What It Means to Walk in Love, Truth, and Power

          

            Skewed or twisted is a fitting word to describe the view the world (the people, systems, governments, nations, and ideals) has of the holy things of God. The world has no interest in love; it has no desire to know this mystery, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:7, 8). Even as the light [Jesus] illumines the darkness, this dark world cannot understand or comprehend the truth of God (John 1:5). The scripture explains why the world exists in a state of lies and corruption; the word of God states,

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not [God’s gospel], lest [for fear that] the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4).

What it means to walk in love, truth, and power is, therefore, lost on those who do not believe. So that we know how to walk in accordance with truth, let us explore together what those actions mean.

Walking in Love

To love someone in the biblical sense is to be passionately concerned about their well-being here on earth and, most importantly, their eternal souls in the world to come. We know from the scripture in the introductory paragraph above that God is love, and that if we know him, we walk in love. That means loving God, ourselves, and others with purity of heart. We must operate in the Spirit of love, because nothing good resides in our natural bodies (Romans 7:18); we are incapable of loving unconditionally. We have to ask God to give us hearts that are ready, willing, and able to give and receive love. To set his name apart, God promised sinful and wicked individuals who profaned his name this: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

Love is Life

The whole meaning of life is love. Humankind is void and worthless without love. There is nothing that has more weight than love. See and hear what the Apostle Paul shares:

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity [love], I am nothing And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2, 3)

All the good in the world will not mean a thing to our Creator if love is absent from our actions. God will count our good deeds as garbage if we do them without love.

Love is the most excellent command. More accurately stated, love is the greatest command of them all. After all, it came straight from the mouth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus told an unbelieving lawyer who was foolish enough to tempt him,

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

Writing such scriptures in our hearts will help us to walk the narrow path. As a matter of biblical fact, God instructs us on what to do with his commandments, “Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee” (Proverbs 6:21, 22).

Love Defined

            Love should never be confused with lust or the world’s false interpretation of love. Love is not some perverted act. Love does not cause people to do crazy things. Love is not some terrible thing that causes people to stumble. Love is the opposite of all those things. It is, indeed, from above, as we have read. The bible teaches the true meaning of love.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

We must model (live out) the meaning of love. Most importantly, we must never forget what love means, because it is the standard by which Jesus will judge us all when our lives on earth are over. For us, it is critical that we remember that love and truth go hand in hand.

Adhering to the Truth

            The truth is that there are two forces or two paths, if you like, at work in this fallen world. Those forces are light or darkness, truth or lies, God’s way (which is in the Spirit) or our way (which is in the flesh). We either choose God or the destroyer (Satan: the god of this world); in other words, we either travel the narrow road that leads to life or the wide path that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13, 14). The truth has its enemies, and lies have many friends. Nevertheless, the truth will live on when the world passes away. Not my words, but Jesus’s! “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

Enemies of the Truth

            We must know who the enemy is and what he is selling. James, Jesus’ half-brother, presents us with a question and answer, saying, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses [those unfaithful to God; the spiritually wicked], know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). The world has nothing in common with God. So, we should not be surprised that the people of the world would believe lies over truth.

            Who exactly are these enemies of the truth? Please pay close attention to what is to come next. The main culprits are Satan and his children. Look at how Jesus gives us a complete picture of who the enemies of truth are.

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts [desires] of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth [convicts] me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. (John 8:44-47)

Jesus did not hold back when addressing the ungodly. People will even kill those who speak the truth. Hear these words of Jesus, “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God …” (John 8:40). If the enemies of truth did not hesitate to seek Jesus out to kill him, they will not spare us either. The proof is all around us. Yet, God commands us to tell the truth. “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16).

In Leviticus 19:11, God says, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.” Though the world targets us or sets out to kill us, we must be brave, for being the objects of wrath and hatred is simply a part of carrying the cross. Jesus says, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

What is the Truth?

            Jesus is the truth. The Word of God is the truth. He is the Word that was in the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1, 2). As children of the light, we have an obligation to walk in the truth. “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21).

Children of God do not have to hide and are not supposed to make themselves invisible. They hold on to what is true and stand by it. God’s Word is the only way to eternal life. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He is also the only true freedom we will ever experience in this corrupt world. What Jesus said to the Jews in his day, he is speaking to us who now believe that he is the Christ: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 32). Anyone interested in experiencing absolute freedom, there it is! Apart from Jesus, there is no freedom.

Abounding in Power

            Just like we have no freedom outside of belief in Jesus Christ, we have no real power apart from God. Without him, we cannot do anything. Take it from the mouth of our Lord, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). In God, we will be victorious and triumph over any circumstance. We will bear “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience], gentleness, goodness [kindness], faith, Meekness, temperance [self-control]: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Freedom From Fear and Danger

Believers who are doers also live under the shadow of the Almighty God. Under God’s wings is the place that gives us freedom from fear and whatever may intend to destroy us. Those of us who “dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). God will be with us, protecting us from whatever evil may come our way. So, we can rest in peace right here on earth, even when danger lurks in our midst. We will believe that “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). How wonderful is our God and his power. For the follower of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, God’s presence and promise of protection are unto freedom and loom larger than life.

 

Please note that all biblical references are from the King James Version.

Above photo is by Luis Quintero: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-raising-his-left-hand-2351722/