It is not giving someone something they want that might be devastating to their welfare.
It is not praising them for things that are sinful, evil or ruinous to their own life as well as the lives of others.
It is not accepting sin in the lives of others merely to remain friends with them.
It is not pretending nothing is wrong when we can see the sin someone is heading into by their actions.
What is Love!
Love is caring so deeply about the welfare of another person that we encourage them in the way of righteousness.
Love is caring so deeply about the welfare of another person that we point out weak spots that could cause harm to them.
Love is being open and transparent about our own failings, that those we love will see us confessing, as an example to them that confessing regains us our joy and spiritual growth.
Love cares more about spiritual consequences that personal pleasures or good feelings.
Love does not encourage someone in a direction that will cause a separation between them and God, as well as their fellow believer.
Love tells the truth all the time. Truth can hurt, but it also heals.
Without truth one cannot grow in holiness. Without truth the heart becomes more and more hardened and desensitized to evil. The more one resists truth, the harder they become. When one hardens their heart long enough, eventually God will finish the hardening and there is no chance of returning to a heart of flesh.
Jeremiah 18:12
"But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"
Exodus 14:8
"The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly."
Daniel 5:20
"But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him."
One who loves, is willing to take a chance on being rejected in order to please God and help another person see their need for confession and growth.
Love never supports evil, it always encourages in the way of righteousness. Love always trusts God's way above man's way.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."
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