Real Love Rejoices With the Truth

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth:

When love is in our hearts we will seek the good, the truth, and live in righteousness. Instead of promoting wrong doing and injustice, love seeks to end it. It seeks the good for our fellow man. The mere nature of love is found in desiring the best for everyone. Hence, when a man has love in his heart he seeks the good and not any harm for those around him.

If love sees a wrong or injustice, it is grieved. Love will make you stand up for and do what is right. It'll make you despise evil. Actually it will make you hate it. It'll make you hate the mere thought of anyone being mistreated or abused. Love sees the injustices of the world and wants to end them. Love sees a child being abused and rescues it. It sees a woman being assaulted and comes to her aid. It sees someone hungry and feeds them. It sees someone hurting and comforts them. It sees someone being neglected and gives them what they need. Jesus Christ put it best when he said in Matthew 25:35-36 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." When love is in our hearts, we will do these things and much more. Love looks for the good and if it finds none, it brings good to it. Evil always has a victim, but love always has a beneficiary. The nature of love is to make everybody beneficiaries, not victims.

Proverbs 6:16-19 states "There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."

Love does not abuse, it does not manipulate, and it does exploit. It doesn't cause suffering. Men, when we have love in our hearts, we will not desire to do anyone any harm. Whether it's our wives, families, our friends, or complete strangers, we will not seek to cause anyone pain, harm, or misfortune. We will not exploit, for that is selfish. We will not lie for that is deception. We will not manipulate, for that is a form of control.

Another aspect of not rejoicing in evil is that if we do something wrong, we should seek to make it right. As much as we may try, we are not perfect. In anger or frustration, there are times when we may say something that is inappropriate or hurtful. We may do something that we know is not right and disrespectful. When we perceive or are notified that we have committed a wrong, we must apologize and seek to make it right. Remember, love is not proud. Sometimes it's very difficult to admit when we are wrong and then it may be even more difficult to ask for forgiveness. This is what love does. Real love seeks restoration and harmony. It seeks forgiveness and accountability. A real man is able to admit when he is wrong and ask for forgiveness. However seeking forgiveness is not enough. We must then repent. Repent means to turn away and not commit the same offense again. We must learn from our mistakes and become better men.

If we are to be the men God has destined us to be, we must have a heart that does not rejoice with evil, but rejoices with the truth.

Now here is a question for you, what is truth? Many people have sought to define truth throughout the years. In the book of John, chapter 6 verse 4, Jesus Christ makes this powerful statement. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." What does Jesus mean with this statement? Jesus is saying that he is the way, so that you will never be lost. He is the truth so that you will never be deceived, and he is the life so that you will have everlasting life. You see, with Jesus we have the fullness of love. "Do to others as you would have them do to you,"(Matthew 7:12), "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13), Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34) "... God is love." (1 John 4:8)

If we don't have God in our lives, then we are missing the full aspect of love. Oh, we may have some love, or a portion of love, but when we have God we then have the ability to have the fullness of love. Oh my fellow men, there is nothing to compare to the fullness of love. There is nothing to compare to God. I encourage you to seek "the way, the truth, and the life." Seek God, who is found in Jesus Christ. I encourage you to "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." (Psalms 34:8)