Rejoicing in Truth

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth." (1 Corinthians 13:6 NIV)

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth…" (2 Timothy 3:1-8)

The second verse seems to give us more understanding of the first verse in its oppositeness. You will note the words boasters and proud in the second verse, traits already discussed that are not of God's Love, nor should they be of our love for God and others.

Versions other than the King James use either "injustice" or "unrighteousness" or "wrong" in place of "evil" in 1 Corinthians 13:6. Thus, one who loves unrighteousness, or who delights in things that are wrong or unjust, cannot be one who "rejoices with the truth."

Many Christians today have compromised the truth in exchange for what they call "love." In fact, they even call it "God's love" yet we know that it is not from God because it does not HATE unrighteousness. Instead it glosses over sin, and declares that "love" will win people to the Lord and therefore it is not necessary to discuss the sin at all.

But that just is not true.

It is when the "truth" of God's love is revealed to us in the very fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us even though we were sinners and undeserving of this great sacrifice of His own life, that we then are able to understand God's love. Without that component, however, we cannot truly grasp His love for us.

It is knowing that our sin has marked us for an eternal existence in the pain and agony of hell, and that Jesus has redeemed us from that which is "due" us because of our own love of sin, that we then can begin to understand how great is His love for us.

And within these statement is the "truth" that God HATES SIN; and it is because sin DESTROYS: beginning with our relationship with God from whom, without Jesus Christ, we are separated and will remain separated for eternity.

Evil seduces us, lies to us, and hides the truth from us. When we Christians want to gloss over sin, we aid evil in hiding it, rather than exposing it and bringing the knowledge of God's love and His gift of salvation to the sinner. Without sin being revealed or exposed, it retains its power to destroy us. We, then, become false teachers similar to the false prophets of old.

"The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading." (Lamentations 4:22)

"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you,, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1)

"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." (Ephesians 5:11)

Those who are held captive by sin are in deception, they are blind, they cannot see their sin. They require someone to reveal it to them. Much as Nathan, the prophet of God, did for David whose lust for Bathsheba blinded him to the reality (the truth) of his actions, which were pure evil. His lust held him captive. Nathan came to expose his sin and release him from the bondage of that sin. There were consequences of his sin, still to be faced, but God spared him death because David, once he saw the truth of his actions, repented before God. Thus David was saved.

Thus will the lost be saved….when they can see their sin, because it has been exposed to them by the truth of the Word of God, either heard or spoken through our lips…and thus will we "rejoice with the truth" on that day when they are set free to receive their salvation.