By: Rodney Nulph, Associate Editor

Sadly, our world is often seemingly characterized as a world filled with hate. As such, some have suggested and actively promote that all we need is love. While it is true that love is certainly needed, sometimes love can be bad. Scripture defines true love and evidences it throughout God’s wonderful will. However, it is true that God reminds that love can be bad.

Love of silver is bad! The Holy Spirit was not popular when He wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10 NASB). Love of material things is such a temptation for mankind that Jesus even gave a couple examples of those who loved “things” to a spiritual detriment. A lengthy discussion and parable took place in Luke 12 that illustrate well what the love of money can do for a person’s eternal soul. Another interesting narrative regarding the love of silver centers on a rich ruler who came to Jesus wanting to go to Heaven (Matthew 19:16ff). When Jesus, knowing the ruler’s deepest love, told him to sell his stuff and follow Him, heartrendingly, the ruler walked away! The man sold his eternal soul because his love was sorely misdirected! Love of silver is bad.

Love of self is bad! At first, this may seem a bit contradictory. Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Then, later Paul wrote that during the last perilous times, in which we currently live, men would be lovers of self (2 Timothy 3:1–2). There is certainly a sense in which we must love ourselves, care for ourselves and recognize that we are the temple of God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). However, when we place self on life’s throne, love of self becomes sinful. Love of self is evidenced when everything in life becomes about us. We fail to serve but want to be served. Worship becomes about our preferences instead of God’s instructions. Love of self in a bad sense is counteracted in Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves.”

Love of the sphere is bad! The Holy Spirit through John warned, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15–17). The thrust of this warning is to not love the world’s systems and philosophies. The flesh is at war with the spirit (Romans 8:7), and to love the things of the flesh is to love the wrong things! Our love must not be set on Earth but on Heaven (Colossians 3:1–3).

Love of sin is bad! This world has become upside down! In many circles, sin is deified and spirituality is despised. In fact, even in Paul’s day, love of sin was prevalent (2 Thessalonians 2). Yet, notice carefully that those who love sin are even those who heartily approve of those who love sin, and they will not inherit Heaven but rather see spiritual death (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Romans 1:26–32). It is difficult to imagine that anyone would actually love sin. However, the times of today are much like those of Isaiah’s day, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20). Love of sin has always been and will always be a bad thing!

Love is certainly the answer to this world’s ills, but that love must be defined and demonstrated by God, for God is love (1 John 4:8). Not just any love will do! Loving the right things is the only love that will change the tide of the hate we see demonstrated in our society. Little wonder why the Holy Spirit reminded us that love can be bad, but the right kind of love, defined by God, is the adjective by which all our actions should function (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Author: Rodney Nulph