Richard Hollerman

We know that some of you may think that love and exposure would be mutually exclusive! In other words, you may think that if we love another, we will not point out his or her faults or failings. Isn’t this true? And surely (some think) we will not point out any sins that they have committed or any changes that would need to be made to be pleasing to God. But is this true?

Of course, this is untrue and hopefully most of you can easily see this. Take the matter of having and raising children. Suppose that you have ten children and one of them (Johnny) misbehaved. The superficial person may say that we must never reprimand this child for this may show him that he is unloved. No, the opposite is true. Or if we love—truly love—Johnny, we will want to see him change and grow. Thus, if he does wrong, if we really love him, we will do all we can to change his bad behavior and help him to see his fault. We will want to see him change and grow to become more of what you, he, and God would want him to become.

Similarly, we will want to point out the faults and failings of the person and encourage him to change and become a better little boy. In the case of an adult, we would want the person to change and become what he, we, and God would want.

Do we really love God? Do we really love each other? Do we love all? It is true that God loves us (John 3:16; 1 John 4;10) and we are to love others too (1 John 4:19). We are to love God and others and this demonstrates our genuine love. Do we really have this quality of love, a love that will die and live for others?

Scripture says that “love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). Instead of doing wrong, we must do right for and to others. This is true love.

We have often seen parents who say that they “love” their children and then allow the child to do wrong. They permit the child to go unrestrained and do whatever the child may want. Instead, we know that true and genuine love (outgoing concern about the welfare of the child) will do what is good for the child and seek to exalt God’s will in his or her life.

Likewise, we will do God’s will and seek to exalt Him in all we do at all times and in every way. It may not always be something that the child will want but it is something that needs to be done. Similarly it is not always something that we may want but it is probably something that the Lord would want.

May He help us to be submissive to Him, do His will, obey Him, and love Him at all times and in every way!