There’s a whole lot of tension when it comes to morality. “What’s right for you is right for you and what’s right for me is right for me so long as no one gets hurt” is the overwhelming cry of the current generation. That doesn’t make sense to me. Subjective laws are exactly that – subjective, based on personal feelings. These laws can never harmoniously serve a diverse community in its entirety. There has to be a law above personal opinions.
Many would say this law is love. Well, what is love? Writer, Eberhard Arnold, has said that “love without truth lies….” Many define love by acceptance, arguing, “If you really loved me, you’d accept me the way I am.” Again, that doesn’t make sense to me. Should I condone someone cutting themselves, speaking ugly things about themselves, or purposefully starving themselves simply because it’s who they are? What they are doing isn’t hurting anyone else, so is it their right since it is their own body? Should I accept that in order to prove my love? No! How on earth could I say I love someone but then support those sorts of actions? At some point or another I have to tell them the truth, and that truth might require them to change.
BUT!!!! “…truth without love kills.” Sometimes a passion for truth and eagerness for positive change abandons the crucial element of love, and what was once intended to help yields the fatal blow. What good does it do to ridicule someone for the ways they have learned to face the crushing winds of attempt and defeat? None. Instead, it only presses harder.
So then what do we need? The law of love we claim should rule our lives is to consist of patience and kindness; without envying, boasting, or pride. It should not dishonor others, be self-seeking, easily angered, nor keep a record of wrongs. This love should not delight in evil but rejoice in the truth. It should always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere and never should it fail. This love is the love of God (1 Cor. 13: 4-8).
Christians, remember this is the love that as followers of Jesus Christ you are called to and enabled by the Holy Spirit to live. Jesus is our perfect example of how to be this love to a world that does not share our right and wrong – He did not condemn people, but neither did He accept their sin. Instead, He spoke value, worth, forgiveness, grace, hope, mercy and life over all whom He encountered. Do the people on the other end of your words and actions receive these same things? Ultimately, Jesus humbled Himself and gave up His life for a people who hated everything about Him. Would you do the same for someone who not only refused your beliefs but also publicly mocked you for them?
I can’t give you specific answers on how to handle every sensitive situation. All I know is Jesus. He will show you the way to live this seemingly impossible but very real love of God, and the Holy Spirit will guide and empower you to do it. Humble yourself, listen, and follow. Your love matters.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” – 1 Peter 4:8.
