Killing Kryptonite

The call for repentance needed in and from the church today is actually a call for what we need most: true love. The lack of true love in the church is filling our services, ministries, and homes with two extremes—tolerance and legalism.

The deception of tolerance is that it can look so much like love. We use the Bible to define love as patient, kind, never proud, not rude, not demanding its own way, along with other attributes found in 1 Corinthians 13. However, the love of the world can also have many of these characteristics. 

What separates Christian love from worldly love is that Christian love obeys God’s commands. “By this we know,” writes the apostle of love, “that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1 John 5:2).

This means, if I’m patient, not rude, not jealous, and not boastful, but am cheating on my wife or if I condone sexual immorality, I am not walking in the love of God. 

True love is marked by both truth and love. Truth apart from love directs us down the road of the letter of the law, that which kills—legalism. And, sadly, people react to legalism by swinging the pendulum to the other extreme, avoiding correction and scriptural warnings, which are crucial to the health and building of the church. 

Let’s be candid—we view calling men and women to repentance as a lack of compassion, tenderness, kindness, and love. Yet consider this: If I see a blind man heading straight for a cliff that will cause him to fall to certain death, love demands that I call him to change course!

In our society, and with many in the church, such genuine love that calls for repentance is perceived as bigoted and hateful. This stronghold has emerged because many are only considering their life on earth, and not eternity. 

When we remember that this life is less than a blink in light of eternity, we live differently. We must view life in an eternal context to comprehend true love. 

This is the love the church needs now—eternal love, true love—love that will confront sin and call for repentance, yet also a love that is patient, kind, and gentle.

From the Bible study, Killing Kryptonite by John Bevere.

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