Feb. 2024 Pastoral Letter
The month of February of course is known mostly as the celebration of love. Pink and red and all the pretty flowers and boxes of chocolate abound in all their glory. It is a great month to be in the restaurant business. Yet how we define love can change everything about how we live our lives.
There are some things that the Bible has in mind when we think about love and what it means to be a Christian. Whenever the word is mentioned in Scripture there is a sacrifice attached of some kind. Even when the apostle John says God is love it is in the context of explaining why we are to love one another and to illustrate that John says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
If love is just supporting the decisions of others regardless of the consequence then we are not acting in love, for love seeks that which is best for the other. God in His justice could have left us in our sin and in our condemnation, but God is love. He made us and desires that none would see perdition and to facilitate that as the verse above notes He sent His only-begotten Son to lay down His life in an act of love. It is in the gift and grant of faith that we see what real love looks like, and as we celebrate love in this month set aside by Hallmark for it is important that we properly understand what it is, so as to not actually hate when we mean to show love.
There is a lot of pressure nowadays to be found conforming to the made-up-last-week morality that has now been discovered to be the new truth that we all now have to agree to or be called names, epithets, or whatever bully tactics the purveyors of “tolerance” are now requiring everyone to obey. As those who rest and trust in Christ we do not fear what unbelievers may say of us because they said worse to our Lord. The verbal attacks should not matter to us. For we have our peace in what God has declared about us in salvation. Why should we concern ourselves with the false testimony when we have the truth on our side? In fact not abiding in lies has the power to witness to those lashing out in a way that neuters whatever authority unbelief thinks it has.
It is why as Christians we cannot be found participating in what God calls evil. It is not loving to allow someone we love to do things that are damaging to their body and to their soul. Enabling wickedness is really an act of hate against that person. It may be outwardly painful at times, but this is a case where the pain is worth the effort. No pain no gain is as true in seeking righteousness as it is in the gym. We are to surround our hearts with holiness primarily because as the Proverbs note engaging with false ideas has a destructive effect on the soul. If you want to truly love those whom you love then you cannot countenance and apologize for their sin. Love them in the same way God has loved you, in sacrificially witnessing the good news of Christ, that He has died for the ungodly and desires that we would be holy as He is holy, we win by showing them the kind of love that our Savior has provided to His people.
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church