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What do you think the lecturer means when she says “loving one another is based on truth”? Why is this an important concept to understand?
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In 1 John 3 starting with verse 16, says “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Basically we can only truly love because Jesus loved us so much that he laid down his life for us and taught us what real love involves.
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When we, Christians, declare our love for others with that love comes speaking the truth of Scripture to them. The truth is a double-edged swords. The truth convicts the spirit man which is used in correction. If we don’t speak truth into the lives of those we love than do we really love them?
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Truth is what sets us free (John 8: 31-32). We cannot love God and others if we do not know and obey the truth. Our actions follow our thoughts. If we believe lies, we will act upon those lies and if we believe truth, we will act upon that truth. Scripture alone is truth.
Loving one another must include speaking the truth to one another in a gentle way as demonstrated by Christ himself. To simply “tolerate” the untruths that others may express is not loving at all. It is the same as agreeing with them. While we cannot correct everyone we encounter, our goal should be to shed light on the darkness and gently teach and restore those who are living in a way that is contrary to the truth, especially our students. -
The Scripture tells us to love our enemies as ourselves. We are also to love each other since we are children of God. It is all in the Bible and all needs to be reinforced in the students minds so that they know it and can live it as they leave the protection of their parents and Christian education.
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At one point in the lecture, she refers to a hypothetical person who doesn’t agree with a Christian. This person says, “Well, your belief system doesn’t matter, and the things you’re anchoring yourself to—doctrine, let’s not get hung up about doctrine. Let’s just all love one another.” However, not all belief systems lead to the conclusion of “love one another” unconditionally. As far as I can tell, the statement made in Matthew 22: 37-39 is unique among all religions. If you believe that we should love each other as ourselves, but not because of Christ, then there seems to be a flaw in the reasoning.
