Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. 2 Corinthians 12:14-16

What is true love? This world loves to throw around the phrase “Love is Love” and this world today loves to label Christians as hateful, but what does it mean to Love? A good example is, if you see someone standing in the middle of the road, and they are about to be hit by a car, the loving thing is to warn them, right?

However by the world’s definition of Love, they would want you to not say anything and let the person get hit on the road. True love warns people when they are in danger. If we know someone is in danger, especially for the eternity of their soul, the loving thing to do is tell them about it! Regardless of what the world says, the loving thing is not to remain silent or allow someone to remain on a destructive path.

When you go to a medical doctor, you want them to tell you the truth about your current condition, right? If we went to the Dr. and he just told us everything we wanted to hear, and yet we had a terminal condition, not only would this not be loving, but it would be unethical. As a Christian, you know many people’s souls are in a critical condition and need Jesus Christ. To allow them to die in their sins is not loving and your disobeying The Lord’s commandment of the Great Commision (Matthew 28:19)

Diving into our scriptures for today, the Apostle Paul is coming back for another visit with the Church, and he loves the Church as a Parent loves a child. This is the love God has for you also, as a parent/child relationship, Paul is greatly concerned for the souls of his flock as he would be for his own children. As a parent, we continually helped steer our kids to make good decisions, this should be the same for the Church. True love cares about the souls of others, not their opinions of you

Notice what Paul says here “though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” The more Paul looked out for the Church, the more they hated him, even though everything Paul was doing was for the benefit of their soul. People’s rebellious hearts make them push you away the more you try to help them. This is what Paul faced with the Church of Corinth. 

To love someone truly , especially in today’s world, is not easy.The ideas of what the world calls love is false, the world isn’t promoting love, its promoting the self destruction of your soul.  But as the Apostle Paul taught us, Love is patient, kind, not jealous or proud, it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs,  its not self seeking, its not easily angered, its not to dishonor others, most importantly Love doesn’t delight in evil but rejoices in truth, Amen! (1 Cor. 13)