For the past few Thursday evenings, Julie and I have been going to our friends' house and to watch a fantastic video series called "The Engagement Project" presented by Del Tackett. Last Thursday, Del gave his definition of true love, and it hit me right between the eyes. Here it is:
"Love is the sacrificial zeal that seeks the true good of another."
Too often I have counted the cost of truly loving someone and I've decided the sacrifice would be too great. So, I kept our relationship at a surface level so as not to get in too deep with the other person. If I'm honest with myself, Del's definition of love makes me look like a coward. I mean, how can I possibly expect to influence a single human being for good if I'm not willing to go deep with them?
Del also said that love and truth go hand in glove. They are inseparable. You can't have love without truth and I know from experience that spewing truth everywhere without love is almost never received well.
I think we Christians have too often forgotten this interdependence of love and truth. We just want to tell the world how broken it is and how people are going in the wrong direction. We say it in a disrespectful and condescending tone; devoid of love. Then we can't understand why the world calls us haters, judgers, and separatists. It seems to me we've bought and paid for those labels.
Starting today, let's decide to always lead with love.
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