True Love Doesn't Wait

Did I really say that?

I'm going through some random books until I kick off the Bible in 90 Days Challenge on Sunday.  I don't want to get out of my habit, so I'm upping my listening time for the next few days and going through some shorter epistles and minor prophets.  Today was 1-2 Peter, Jude, and Haggai.  Try those in one shot sometime!

God grabbed me right away this morning in 1 Peter 1:22-25.  I'm reading The Peace Making Pastor by Alfred Poirier, and in chapter 1 he makes a great connection between truth and love.  He says on p. 22 "First, the Christian faith unites truth and love.  Second, it is love of the truth that supports true love."

Dizzy yet?


He goes on to say of 2 John, on p. 23 "The apostle roots the call to love like Christ (peacemaking) in the truth about the person of Jesus Christ (Christology)."  So, with all this swirling in my head, I hear the apostle Peter say, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart"

Again, truth and love are interconnected!

In Greek, this passage's syntax is somewhat ambiguous.  The phrases are all over the place, so if you survey the different translations, you'll find several ways to translate it.  I think the NIV is headed in the right direction when it says "obeying the truth so that you have sincere love..." because the Greek preposition eis is used.  Roughly, this is "obeying the truth unto/towards an unhypocritical love."  It is because of our understanding of the truth that we have this sincere (unhypocritical) love towards our brothers and sisters.  Beyond this, it is because we have applied (obeyed) the truth.  So how do I justify a statement like "true love doesn't wait"?

Love is a verb.

Love is what we do, not just how we feel.  Here, Peter tells us that sometimes love begins in our understanding ("the truth"), is strengthened by our actions ("obeying"), and then moves to our emotions ("love one another deeply, from the heart").

So true love doesn't wait.

True love doesn't wait until it feels like loving someone.  True love is rooted in the truth of Christ's love, and acts in response to that love. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (1 John 3:16.)

True love doesn't wait until someone is lovable.  True love sees the beloved as Christ sees them and loves like Christ loves.  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

When true love has the opportunity to show itself, true love doesn't wait.  Are you a true lover?  Am I?  Today, I will not wait.  I will show love where I see the opportunity to do so.  I will not wait until I feel like.  I will love.  "God is love" and so I must be love.  If I am not a true lover, I do not truly know God (1 John 4).