We all want to be on the right side of any issue. We want to remain aligned with our preferred affiliation and with those who believe the same way we do. We want this so much that we will do anything to prove that our rightness is God’s will. It is at that point that we become spiritually blind.
I Corinthians 13 is known as the “Love Chapter.” It gets quoted a lot, even by unbelievers. The commands of this kind of love are poetic and beautiful to hear. What we can miss are the other parts of love’s definition that reveal a deeper clarity of how this love works.
One of those points of clarity is the effect that God’s love has on our lives. As an example of this kind of love, “It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out” (I Corinthians 13:6). What we rejoice over will reveal the party to which we belong – a party whose Leader sits upon Heaven’s throne or some earthly party that will pass away.
Living under the influence of God’s love will challenge our allegiance to our current relationships and affiliations when we respond in love to injustice. God’s love requires that we respond when injustice takes place no matter what our affiliation.
We are not slaves to any party, political or spiritual. We belong to the Lord and need to rejoice when an injustice of any kind is brought to light, even if speaking the truth severs our ties with people and with an institution that demands our lockstep submission to its dictates. That choice will reveal the party we are following is the Lord’s party. His party is defined by love, not by partisan demands for unity
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by Archee Lal on Unsplash
