The Love Test

Recently someone was telling me about a local radio preacher who “really tells it like it is” and “speaks up for the truth” and I said, “Both of those are good. Does he do it in love?” “Oh no,” I was told, “This guy does it with a hammer. But he’s not one of those love guys. He’s a hard, black and white truth kind of guy.”

My response to that is … what about 1 Corinthians 13 (today’s reading). It’s still in the Bible, right? It still says that if you can understand and teach deep truths, and even do miracles, but aren’t motivated by and doing it in love, it amounts to nothing, you gain nothing, and you are nothing. It’s weird how Christians can ignore that. We put teachers through a “truth test” (are they Biblically accurate?) but we also need to put them through a love test.

Speaking of which, I can’t remember where I first saw this, but here’s a good test for you to do based on today’s reading. To evaluate how you’re doing spiritually, replace the word “love” with your name in the following passage (I’ve put in blanks for you to put your name) and see if this is an accurate description of you. If not, it’s time to abide in Christ and grow:

_____ is patient, _______ is kind. ______ does not envy, ______ does not boast, _______ is not proud. ________ is not rude, ________ is not self-seeking, _________ is not easily angered, _________ keeps no record of wrongs. _________ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. _______ always protects, __________ always trusts, _________ always hopes, _________ always perseveres.