In Christian circles, it seems like love and grace are always contrasted with justice, holiness, and truth. I've heard on numerous occasions that those ideas must be "balanced." You can't talk too much about the love of God because then people will think he doesn't care if we sin. And you can't talk too much about truth, justice, holiness, and sin because then people feel beat up.
Do those things really work against each other? Does talking about the love of God mean you have to be soft on sin and holiness? Can you make God too loving? I personally find myself thinking differently about these things. Certain scriptures point to a different interaction between these ideas than the opposition to each other they are characterized as having.
Paul speaks of both sorrow (2 Cor. 7) and kindness (Rom. 2) leading us to repentance. There are times when its appropriate to be direct and harsh with sin, and there are times when speaking about the kindness of God, His tolerance and patience, will fight sin. Paul also talks about speaking truth in love, meaning that truth is a part of love, not opposed to it.
This all may sound rather rudimentary, but in terms of practice I have hardly ever seen this lived out the way Jesus did. I don't think He was trying to balance grace and truth, I think He was loving. His love for people absolutely manifested itself in different ways, be it showing grace to an adulterous woman or throwing tables around in rage, but love was always present.
Why does love have to be soft on sin? Actually, let me rephrase that: how can love be soft on sin? And how can truth be separated from love? Is it even possible to make God "too loving" or "too nice?" I don't think so. He still hates sin, and He always will. But He is love.
Perhaps more on this later....
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