Post #68:  July 23, 2023

I heard this in church recently and it completely aligned with a revelation the Lord gave me a few years ago:  “Love without truth is deception.  Truth without love is destruction.”

The Lord gave me a visual about a person standing and holding a suitcase in each hand.  One suitcase was full of Love and the other full of Truth.  

What He showed me is that if we only tell people about the love of God, but omit the judgment of God, we are basically “loving” people into hell.  Yes, God is love; but true salvation requires repentance, a turning away from sin.  There has been such a “hyper-grace” message preached that people have no reverential fear of the Lord.  Sin isn’t really even talked about. They don’t feel the conviction or need to turn from their sin.  They “feel good” about living however they want.  They may do good works by man’s standards, but don’t live by God’s standards.  They have a false sense of salvation and therefore no fear of God’s coming judgment. It is never our works that save us, but our born-again spirit is a new creation in Christ Jesus.  Yes, we still sin in our flesh, but can no longer sin without our conscience being convicted by the Holy Spirit. 

Conversely, if we only tell people Truth without Love, then we come across legalistic, harsh and mean.  People feel condemned, shamed, and unworthy.  They run from God in fear rather than drawn to His love because they feel they can never “earn” salvation because of their past.  And salvation is NEVER earned! None of us can change on our own.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit in us that allows us to change and turn from our sinful nature. Truth without Love makes us Pharisees and chases people away from God and from receiving eternal salvation.

To share the gospel effectively, we must balance our suitcases of Love and Truth.

Ephesians 4:15:  “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.”

John 14:23:  Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves Me will obey My teaching.  My Father will love them, and We will come to them and make Our home with them.”