An Inkling
It’s one of the most helpful aphorisms I ever heard,
and I believe I heard it first from John Claypool: Truth
without love is brutality; love without truth is sentimentality; the Lord wants
always to hold truth and love together. And
when we don’t? Well, just look around.
But how? It’s
not as if we can simply decide to be people of truth and love, and then become
so by sheer willpower. Yet the gospel is
clear that in Jesus, whose very life defines truth and love, we, too, can
become people of truth and love. And we
stand most ready to receive such gifts when we take up particular disciplines. Two disciplines are particularly important for
such readiness.
First, study. Study
is the central discipline for becoming a person of truth, and the center of our
study must be the scripture. Do you have
a plan for scripture study, and are you working the plan? If so, truth will advance in your very
being. An effective study discipline
will also include learning from good teachers, of which there are many. There are also a lot of erroneous and trivial
teachers. Check with one of the pastors
or elders as you sift what is worth your while in study. God intends to work his truth into your very
being!
And then service.
Service is the key discipline for growing us in love. What do you do regularly for others that demands self-sacrifice? I go to the gym regularly, and that demands
self-sacrifice, but I’m doing it for myself.
Service is for others, and it’s the for
others part that begins to reform our natural bent toward
self-centeredness. From that soil love
begins to grow.
Study and service are not the only means God provides
for becoming people of truth and love, but they are key means. There are many who major in truth, and many
who major in love. Either alone brings
distortions to life. In Jesus both
together bring life to distortions. How
is that working for you?
Blessings,
Keith
