The challenge we face today is that much of our “truth lens” we view the world through is based on our personal, inner reality. We need the outward reality of God’s love to first shape the inward reality of our identity so we offer a healthy outward engagement with our communities and world.
The sacred scriptures indicate this path of love – outside to inside to outward – like a reflection in a mirror or a video stream.
-
Outside – Love first has to be revealed. It is not discovered in myself. As babies, our earliest glimpses of love are from our parents, or whomever our caregivers are. If we believe God is love, then love first comes from God to us his children. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.”
-
Inside – The outside revelation of love invokes an inside journey. We capture some of that love and can nurture and shape our inner reality. (See Psalm 119:32 and 139:1-6.) Once there is an identity established within ourselves, then love can flow outwardly but the inside identity has to be shaped by something outside of ourselves. Even the fact that I walk on planet earth emerges from the outside act of two people coming together in love.
-
Outward – From the outside discovery and inside reception of love, we should reciprocate love back towards God and also towards others. Our continued discovery of God’s love and sharing of it can be inspired by the creation (Psalm 19) which includes humanity in all of its pain and joy (Luke 10:9).
Truth without love is either dead or bloody. Love without truth is an oxymoron. But the truth here is not facts, it is the person of Jesus. When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, the life” in John 14:6 this speaks of someone who was heading to a cross to die for his enemies and reshape the fallen creation in forgiveness. This statement is less about facts that are true and more about the second person of the Trinity living who he was, an eternal godhood of love (John 17:21).
The truer your love, the truer your truth. You can reverse this idea and say, “the truer your truth, the truer your love,” but you must start with the truth found in the agape, functional and pure love of the Trinity. Love is primal and its perfect reflection will never come from a human in self discovery. Truth must still be baptized in love for it to have power to create positive change in a heart or in our world.
How are you presenting your views on truth?
Are you ready to expand your view of God’s love? There is no better way than understanding your call to love your enemy and how God loved his enemy when he first loved us. Join the Love Your Enemy revival by watching Marcus’ free webinar: https://tf323.isrefer.com/go/LoveEnemy-1-Marcus/Marcus/