How you live your life matters. It matters to you, it matters to those you love, it matters to those who love you, and it matters to God. It even matters to people you don’t even know. The Bible calls us to walk in truth and love.
Some of us find walking in the truth easy but walking in love more difficult. Others are compelled to show love to everyone but get squishy on the truth sometimes. For others, both present a huge challenge. Followers of Jesus are to be truthful and loving at all times. We are called to walk in truth and love.
We are grateful to God for who he is and what he gives us. Because of Jesus, we can walk in truth AND love. He walked in truth and love perfectly, setting the example for us to follow. When we place our faith in him, he fills us with his Spirit and empowers us for daily living. God is our source and we draw from his never-ending supply of truth and love. God is true, righteous and holy. God is loving, compassionate and caring. God has given us grace, mercy and peace.
2 John 1:1-3
1 The elder [John]: To the elect lady [the church] and her children [followers of Jesus], whom I love in the truth — and not only I, but also all who know the truth — 2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever. 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
We are compelled to walk in truth and love. If you walk in truth without love you may be tempted to become judgmental, legalistic or cold toward others. If you walk in love without truth you may be tempted to compromise your standards in an effort to show compassion. We are called to walk in holiness, righteousness and truth and at the same time show compassion, care and love to others.
We look to Jesus as our example, read God’s Word, depend on his Spirit for guidance and strength, and by faith obey him every moment of every day. He will lead and guide us. He will show us the way. He will show us how to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and how to love our neighbors as ourselves. He will show us how to walk in righteousness, truth and faith. The story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 illustrates what walking in true unconditional love looks like.
John writes to the first-century believers and to us:
2 John 1:4-6
4 I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. 5 So now I ask you, dear lady — not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning — that we love one another. 6 This is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: that you walk in love.
We are glad to hear of others walking in truth and love. By the time he wrote this second letter, John had been a follower of Jesus for many years. He had prayed, taught and encouraged people to walk in truth and love, following in the way of Jesus. When he found that there were many of his Christian brothers and sisters walking in truth and love, he was very glad.
We should be too. Be grateful for your brothers and sisters in Christ who are walking in truth and love all over the world. Be grateful for those in your own church family. And be grateful for brothers and sisters in Christ in other churches throughout your city. We are all on the same team, part of the same family, with the same God-given mission to go and make disciples (the Great Commission).
What an impact we will have if all of God’s children walk in truth and love.
The Holy Spirit is a magnet that binds us together.