The Love Doctor 14: Love rejoices in truth

For many, many years I was lost.  I was headed to hell in gasoline soaked underwear.  But the worst thing about my pitiful condition was that the Christians in my life knew it; and no one said anything at all. 

Friends, I can thank a merciful God for reaching in and pulling me out of the murky waters of unrepentant sin.  God allowed me to dig a hole so deep that I had no other choice but to turn to Him.  And when I learned the truth, I did rejoice.  When I learned how wicked my own heart was, I praised God for that knowledge.  Read Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

What the weeping prophet is telling us here is that our desires speak lies to us above all things.  The things we gravitate toward are wicked hateful things.  Brothers and Sisters, that verse set me free.  That verse spoke to me like John 3:16 speaks to many other believers.  That verse told me to take whatever I wanted and hold up against the truth, which is the word of God, and see if they match.  When I understood that, it was like seeing for the first time.  I was able to truly rejoice in the truth. 

You see before I understood that verse I was like that boat lost at sea, being tossed about according to the weather.  I said and did whatever I felt like doing.  I believed that horrible lie the culture tells us.  Our flawed system tells us to do what feels right.  The culture told me that God put the desires I had in my heart so they couldn't be wrong.  When the spirit revealed to me the truth in that verse, I became stable.  My walk began to straighten out.  My thoughts became crystal clear, because I understood that I could not trust what was in my heart, and I must depend on the word of God to guide me. 

Friends, I said all that to get to my real point.  You cannot love fully until you love in the truth.  You cannot love in truth until you know the truth.  Let's look at our text:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.



When we love with an agape love, we find joy when others experience the truth.  We rejoice when the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost soul and that new name is entered into the book of life.  We almost hear the angels sing when that brave soul takes the long walk down the aisle at church to begin the process of salvation. 

Brothers and sisters when we really rejoice in truth we do not remain silent when others around us do not know the truth.  You cannot really know the gospel and not want to share it.  How much do you have to hate someone to not share the gospel (some of you will get that later).  C.S. Lewis wrote (and I'm paraphrasing here) that there is a kind of joy that produces a seriousness or sense of purpose.  That joy wants us all to be saved, so we can all rejoice in the truth.

Love rejoices in the truth!