1 John 2:15
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
John tells us that love for the world is incompatible with the true love of God. We must not direct our love toward the things of the world, and we must not be deceived by counterfeit love. Remember that despite the devastating effects of the Fall, Jesus, through his death and resurrection, re-established the kingdom of God, and with it re-established true, authentic love. Jesus brought back love as God designed it.
We must keep truth and love connected. Love that is untethered and disconnected from truth is no longer love. But therein lies one of the great challenges of our time: truth. We live in a time when many people have rejected the reality that God has spoken to man truthfully and objectively in the verbal propositions of scripture. Even worse, some go so far as to say that objective truth doesn’t even exist; they claim that all truth is subjective.
The consequences of the rejection of the objective, revealed truth of scripture is titanic. Without objective truth, there is no basis or reference point for morality or law. There are no objective categories to explain why some things are right and some things are wrong. Whether people realize it or not, this is modern man’s great dilemma.
When there is no objective reference point for what is true, we are left only with arbitrary standards set by whatever group has the most political power or the most persuasive influence. It should come as no surprise that there is so much “fake news” today. People do not seek truth; instead, they seek whatever narrative supports their interests, preferences, or political agenda.
Although he wrote in the 1970’s, Francis Schaeffer provides great insight into the modern dilemma. He observed that if one abandons the Christian solution—that is, if a person rejects the absolutes and universals that are possible because God speaks objective truth in the Bible—then there are three (and only three) possible alternatives for the standards of right/wrong.
The first is radical individualism, that is, every individual believes and does whatever he wants to do. Each person lives by his/her own subjective standards. This is the rule of self, and it quickly degenerates into anarchy and chaos.
The second is the rule of 51 percent. This is the authority of the majority, and it produces shifting and arbitrary moral standards that are derived by what the majority can be persuaded or manipulated to support.
The third is an elite or dictator—that is, some form of authoritarianism wherein an elite minority, or an autocrat, establishes the standards of right/wrong.
If you do not have an absolute that resides somewhere and to which you can appeal, it will lead to one these three positions. None of them provide a stable foundation for a society or guidance for everyday life and work.
The reality is that there are objective standards of right and wrong. There are objective standards for what love it. There is objective truth, and there is authentic love. It is imperative, therefore, that we, the followers of Jesus, speak the truth, practice the truth, and operate with love in every area of our lives.
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16.13-14)
