Welcome back! If you haven’t, please read yesterday’s introductory comments to our study today. After that, please continue the discussion as we look at what true love actually is:

3: Love is doing God’s commands (1 John 5:3). We cannot claim to love God without doing what he says. If I asked my husband to do some things for me, and he never ever did them, but at the end of every day told me ‘I love you’, would I really feel that he did? No. If he loved me, he would do the things that I asked him to do. If my husband asked me to cook for him, do his laundry, and clean the house, and I never, ever did it, but always told him ‘I love you’, would he believe it? No! I haven’t done anything he’s asked me to do! In the same way, we cannot tell God that we love Him while choosing not to do the things He’s commanded us to do. When He says, “do not commit adultery” and we commit adultery, do we love Him? When He says, “do not gossip” and we gossip, do we really love Him? We show our love and dedication to God by doing what He says, not excusing those around us who aren’t doing what He says.

4: Love is patient (1 Corinthians 13). 1st Corinthians 13 gives us a beautiful picture of what love looks like. I think the very first characteristic is an important one when dealing with sins and sinners. Here’s the thing: every single one of us is a sinner (Rom. 3:23). Some of us are trying to live in the light, though still falling into sin’s snare while trying to walk that narrow way. Some, on the other hand, are happily going along on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13). The latter are not trying to do God’s will. They are choosing to live as those during the times of the judges lived–doing what is right in their own eyes. As Christians (those trying to walk in the light), we must be patient with these individuals. We must do our best to show them the way. And the best way to do that? Through patience and love. Through kindness and gentleness. Because if I approach someone who is outside of Christ in any way but love and patience and kindness, I am the one in the wrong.

What it all boils down to is this: by design, the church is exclusive. Those who have been added to the church are the ones who have chosen to put on Christ in baptism (Acts 2:38 & following) and have made a covenant to do God’s will. These same people (Christians), are commanded to spread the gospel of Christ to others. They are commanded to tell other people what God wants for them. They are not commanded to withhold the truth. They are not commanded to shield people from the parts that they may not like. They are not commanded to excuse certain sins because the culture in which they live has embraced them. Christians have always and will always be called to stand out from the world, and speak out against what the world deems acceptable.

This past week made me really sad. On the one hand, I was seeing a lot of Facebook friends changing their profile pictures to reflect their support of equal marriage rights for those practicing homosexuality. On the other hand, I was seeing other Facebook friends mocking, scoffing, and being extremely rude toward those speaking the truth about the matter. In both instances, what we’re seeing is a lack of true love. You see, if you truly love God, you won’t support ‘equal marriage rights for same-sex couples’, because God has already defined marriage as that between a man and a woman (Gen. 2:24, Matt. 19:5-6). Truly loving God is doing and supporting what He has commanded, not what society deems acceptable. As for the latter situation, if you truly love God, you love your brothers and sisters; whereas, if you hate your brothers & sisters, you hate God (1 John 4:20). You cannot love God and hate your brothers and sisters. You cannot love God and speak harshly to or about God’s children. You cannot truly love God by cursing, mocking, or ridiculing those whom He has sanctified. Why oh why are we so bent on tolerating & supporting the rights of the created and not concerned at all with keeping the commands of the Creator of heaven and earth?

I want to go to heaven. Above all, I want my eternal abode to be with the Father of all things. However, if I write this post (or any subsequent post) with arrogance, hatred, jealousy, or with the intent to cause strife/contention, I won’t. If I want to go to heaven, but I live my daily life by my own standards and disregard God’s standards, I won’t. If I want to go to heaven, but I don’t do the things that God tells me to do, I won’t. And if I want to go to heaven, but I condone practices that God does not, I won’t. You see, only the pure and sanctified will be in heaven, because sin does not dwell where God is. That is why Revelation 21:8 tells us that the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murders, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars won’t be in heaven. That is why Galatians 5:19-21 tells us that those who practice adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, revelries and anything like that won’t go to heaven–because heaven is a place of purity. For heaven to be a place free from sin, those who freely practice or condone sin can’t be there.

This isn’t an argument about equal rights. This isn’t about homosexuality. This isn’t even about America. This is about loving and respecting God enough to abhor what is evil (Rom. 12:9). This is about loving God enough to speak where He speaks. This is about loving God enough to stand up to Satan and resist his tricks. May we all take a closer look into what the Bible says, and do the things which God commands us to do, and flee from those things which will keep us from an eternal home with our Maker. And, let’s continue to warn others that their sins can and will keep them out of heaven, but there is good news. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and His blood does just that!