|
Policy
This is the age of commerce. In the realm of
commerce everything is conducted on the basis of
policy. How sad that believers are also contaminated
with this stratagem. We ought to know the difference
between truthfulness and policy. There is a distance
of heaven to earth between our truly loving people
and our loving as a policy. Whoever truly loves
loves from his heart; whoever loves out of policy
loves only from his head. True love is the outflow
of inward reality, whereas love out of policy is a
forced external appearance. It is natural for a
spiritual Christian to love truthfully, for his
inside and outside agree; but to love on the basis
of policy is manufactured because the inward and the
outward disagree.
The behavior of a carnal Christian is mainly
governed by policy. His conduct is not natural for
it is not the outflow of inward reality. It is
controlled by his fear of criticism or his desire
for approval. Using brotherly love as an example, we
see that a carnal Christian's expression of such
love does not flow from real love but is manipulated
to court the pronouncement of spirituality upon him
by his brethren. Alas, many loves are fake. May the
Lord deliver us from such pretension.
What Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 penetrates deeply
to the heart of our thoughts and intents. Such a
great act as giving our body to be burned has the
possibility of being without love. For it can be an
act of policy, not one of truthful love. Hence the
apostle judges it on this wise: "it profiteth me
nothing" (v.3). Love out of policy takes care of the
appearance, yet heart and mouth do not agree. It is
putting on a facade, and is void of the work of
God's grace. This is a deceiving of self and of
others. It truly is the wiles of Satan. Let us see
that such love, generated as it is by policy, cannot
endure long. With the passing of time, the real
condition within will be exposed. Such forced love
will not help one's spiritual life one whit. Let us
rely on the cross of Christ to eliminate all such
evils in heart. Let us truly love: "Let us not love
in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and
truth" (1 John 3.18).
|