“I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”
John 16:26b-27.
Max Lucado, in his little book; God’s Inspirational Promises, states, “The single most difficult pursuit is truth and love.” He goes on to suggest that lots of English majors might consider that to be grammatically incorrect, but that it is actually correct. The pursuit of truth and love at the same time is our singular task. When we are working with love in truth and truth in love we very soon realize that we should never have either one at the expense of the other. As Lucado puts it, “Never the embrace of love without the torch of truth. Never the heat of truth without the warmth of love.”
When we accept the truth in the quote from John 16 that God loves us because of our response to Jesus, we can certainly accept that becoming better examples of the interaction between truth and love is what makes our relationships so precious. The Covid 19 crisis is changing many things, and we are all trying to keep our relationships meaningful as we adapt. At the same time we acknowledge that our dependence on including the basics really doesn’t change too much. Priorities are becoming clearer, habits are being revised, people are responding to each other more carefully and intentionally. These actions seem to indicate all of us are reconsidering what really are the more important elements that make our lives meaningful and fulfilling. This may end up being more than a wake-up call. What we do individually makes a real difference collectively, and that fact is enabling the kind of behavioral adjustments that make room for truth and love to be much more than a nice principle, and enable it to be a way of life for some who have not seriously considered it before. I am encouraged.
Hymn: O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depth its flow
may richer, fuller be.
Sovereign God, we love because you first loved us. Help us to share the warmth of love that enables the heat of your truth. Guide us with your Holy Spirit that what we do will be according to your will. In Jesus’ name, and to the benefit of all your children. Amen.
Pastor David Brosnan