11 January 2024
Godly love includes discernment. Unfortunately far too many Christians neglect discernment in their attempts to love others. Without discernment, these believers tend to surrender to the sin of others thinking that is the loving thing to do. However, there are times when confrontation rather than surrender and appeasement is the loving path. Otherwise, why would Jesus have confronted the Pharisees and religious leaders of his day so harshly, and so frequently? If love surrenders to sin, why did Jesus violently drive the money changers out of the temple with a whip? The Bible says that Jesus Himself made that whip for that purpose. It was a deliberate act that He thought about for some time before He did it. Remember, Jesus is the express image of the Father and God is love. Therefore everything Jesus did, He did in love, including these confrontations. While we are indeed all to live sacrificially, God did not call you to be a doormat. Nor did He call you to embrace the sin in others. Instead of embracing their sin, the loving thing to do is to call people out of their sin by speaking to the person God created them to become in Christ. Instead of affirming sin in others, lift them up in godliness. Let your love abound in all discernment.
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment. — Philippians 1:9 (NKJV)
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