14
The Sincerity of Love
In this article, first published in March 1947,
we are challenged to examine ourselves as to
whether we are truly motivated by what God
has done for us to live lives of loving and obe-
dient service.
Actions rather than professions are the true
measure of our love for Christ. Though our
tongue, as the Apostle James reminds us, “is
a little member, it boasteth great things”
(Jas. 3:5) and may deceive us more easily than
it does our friends. Professions of love and al-
legiance, if they are unsup-
ported by authoritative works,
if they fail to take the strains
of everyday living, are easy, ig-
noble and disastrous.
Although the experience be-
came the starting point of a
stronger loyalty, Peter discov-
ered this in the most tragic
circumstances. In all the Scrip-
tures it would be difficult to
find nobler assurances than
those which Peter gave his
Lord: “Lord, I am ready to go
with thee, both into prison, and to death”
(Luke 22:33). Yet what can be weaker than his
pitiful blustering a few hours later: “Then
began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know
not the man” (Matt. 26:74) ?
We have a happy contrast in the example of a
woman who loved her Lord with all the inten-
sity of her soul, but who did not confess it. Her
confession was hidden in her actions as she
symbolically prepared Christ for his burial, and
it was Jesus who declared to men both her
love and her comprehension.
Jesus warns us
On so many occasions, sometimes directly,
sometimes obliquely, Jesus warns us of the
danger of mere profession. His
great criticism of the scribes
and Pharisees was that they
had inherited the fault of their
fathers, who drew nigh to God
with their mouth and honoured
Him with their lips, but their
heart was far from Him (Matt.
15:7,8).
His great discourse on the
mount concludes with sober
words of warning. For a mo-
ment he lifts the veil of the
future and discloses the judge-
ment seat. There are those who are still
protesting with the greatest emphasis that
they have loved and worked; they have
“prophesied”, they have “cast out devils”,
they have “done many wonderful works”. But