Godly Love vs Worldly Love

Godly love vs. worldly love

In our current world, customizing things to our liking has become a common and expected part of consumerism. Whether we customize something as simple as a cellphone case, our cable plan, or sign up for a subscription to haircare and skincare products tailor-fitted to our demands. The convenience to customize everything around us has become an essential add-on feature to almost every purchase we make.

We have grown accustomed to the mindset of “if we don’t like it, change it”.  This can become a harmful way of thinking when dealing with matters of truth. Facts and truths are not something we should be comfortable altering. More and more people are modifying the truth of who God is and manipulating it to conveniently accommodate their particular desires. Rather than allowing the truth of scripture to convict and chasten us, people are exchanging truth for a custom-made doctrine. If something in the Bible offends a person, they will choose to either take it out of context or simply exclude it from the Bible altogether.

Doing this is not only foolish but downright dangerous. We are living in a world where “the truth” is traded in for “your truth”. Though there are endless depictions of this, I will focus on the most common example.

Godly Love

This is perhaps the most common topic and characteristic of God that people like to alter. Whether by misinterpretation of scripture or willingly deciding to justify sin in relation to God’s love, both are disastrous. There seems to be a popular mix-up between God’s love and acceptance. When exposing a person’s sin, the most frequently spoken thing said is how God is love and because he is love, he accepts everyone just the way they are. Certainly not! If that were the case, there would have been no need for God to send Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Therefore, people who believe this truly think they are accepted by God, no matter the conditions of their hearts.

Yes, God loves all of His creation, which is why he desires all to know him and to be saved. It is important to realize when speaking about God’s love; It is not to be confused with the worldly interpretation of love. For example, in Proverbs 27:5-6(KJV), true godly love doesn’t allow room for ignorance or the overlooking of one’s errors. “An open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” By understanding this scripture, we can see that truth and love go hand in hand. Never are we advised to just accept wrongfulness in love, rather, we are instructed to rebuke, point out and correct. This reveals to us a further understanding of what godly love is and how it differs from what humans deem love to be.

God’s love does not consist of, nor require him to tolerate or accept, the sinful conditions of our hearts. God’s love is displayed through his chastening and correction when we are in error, as well as his forgiveness when we repent. Nowhere does it state in scripture that God’s love for us causes Him to condone or overlook our sins. Scripture does, however, point out that because we are all sinful, we need a savior; a way to be made anew in the eyes of God. Thinking just because God loves you he automatically accepts who you are, and the sin you are living in is 100% wrong and misleading. God loves you and because he loves you he made a way for you to enter into right standing with Him through Jesus Christ. God can love a person while remaining unaccepting of the way they are living their lives. It is challenging for us to step outside our carnal thinking, but certainly necessary when seeking to understand who God is and his views.

Worldly Love

The love that we have grown to understand in our world is not the same love that God desires us to walk in. The love we’ve become accustomed to often excuses wrongdoing, dances around the things that need to be addressed, and is usually conditional. We are taught by the world that love is lying to a person to spare their feelings and allow them to continue in their wrongdoing in the name of acceptance. The Proverbs mentioned above acknowledges that it is much better to offend a person to bring them to the truth, rather than to spare their feelings by overlooking or accepting something. Because so many people fail to distinguish between these two views of love, believers are improperly labeled as hateful, judgmental bigots. People prefer the love that will allow them to remain unaccountable for their choices, and that will facilitate them in the continuance of the lies they tell themselves daily. With everyone these days so easily offended or triggered by the direction that the wind blows, it is becoming even more difficult to walk in the love of God. Do not allow this to cause you to be hopeless. The Bible warned us that these things were to come in Matthew 24:9-13 (KJV).

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”