What Does True, Sincere Love Look Like?

The temptation to be insincere runs rampant in our lives. James 2:1-4 reads:

“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

We’ve all been in the poor man’s position. Left out. Forgotten. Cast aside. Judged. We’ve all been in the rich man’s position, perhaps given an abundance of respect before flexing our true character. We’ve all been the one to judge between the two. We do it daily, as we scroll through our news feeds and walk around our lives passing each other to and fro. John wrote,

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:16-18).

In our modern lives, how often are we Facebook friends with someone whom we see out in real life, and don’t say hello? We miss the opportunity to love others. We neglect to remember our sovereign God and His purposeful placement of people in our lives, and they in ours. The temptation to accept the insincere society we live in can be thwarted by our choice to focus on the Truth. What would motivate us to obediently adopt the discipline of fixing our focus on the Truth of God’s word over the norms of the world? John wrote,

“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:19-21).

We choose to forgive forward because we are loved this way by our Father in heaven. Our desire to love sincerely comes from Him. He loves us sincerely, for who we are right now. And we are called to love each other in the same way.

More from this author
A Comforting Reminder: God Listens to Us
God Patiently Walks with Us through Awkward Moments
Learning to Listen Well

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/BrianAJackson

Meg is a graduate of Ashland University. She is a writer, author, editor, and digital content creator. She stepped away from her job in Internet Marketing in 2008 to raise her daughters, which gave her passion for writing a chance to shine through her blog, Sunny&80… Life within the Love of Christ. Meg has served as a Children’s Worship Team Leader and Middle School Leader for her local church. She founded and led the Breakfast Club Bible Study for Tweens, has served as a Young Life Leader and Committee Member, and led Women’s Bible Study. She has also volunteered as a content creator for her local church, studied Bible/Ministerial Training through Global University, completed COMPEL PRO Writers Training, and is Ethically AI Certified. A contributing writer for Salem Web Network since 2016, Meg is now thrilled to be a part of the team at Salem Web Network. You can find her entire library of books on her Amazon Author Page.