Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Is our Love, our Faith, and our Wisdom Unfeigned?

 
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 NKJV)
“But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God. . .by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,” (2 Corinthians 6:4-6 NKJV)
“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,” (1 Timothy 1:5 NKJV)
“when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” (2 Timothy 1:5 NKJV)
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17 NKJV)
“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,” (1 Peter 1:22 NKJV)
 
Recognizing what is Unfeigned
This Greek word unfeigned is translated “without hypocrisy”,” sincere”,and “genuine.”  Because Paul, Peter and James all use the word in connection with Christian character, it seems that there must be a lot of love, faith, and wisdom that is not genuine or sincere.  Are we wise enough to detect what is real and to support it?  Are we wise enough to detect what is not genuine and to avoid it?  
 
What About us?
Is our personal love, faith and so-called wisdom genuine or unfeigned?  Judas had a problem with this.  The religious leaders of the Lord’s day had a problem with this.  I believe that we have a problem with this today.  Not everyone who says they love the Lord does.  Not everyone who says they have faith does.  Not everyone who gives advice is giving advice guided  by the Holy Spirit.  We live in a day of great confusion.  We need to be praying that we can start distinguishing the wheat and the tares, the truth and the lies.  We need to recognize when people are serving the Lord and when religion is just one tool in their arsenal that they are using to advance their own interests.  We need to recognize that good character counts.  The words that we speak are powerful and they count.
 
The Lord was crucified by religious people. The Lord called the religious leaders of His day hypocrites. If we are hoping to make a difference in this world, we need to make sure that we are genuine.  Could Paul write about our genuine faith?  Does the world see our sincere love?  Is our wisdom, the wisdom of the world or is it the wisdom that is pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”
 
Christians should not be criticized because they are obvious pretenders.  We all make mistakes but let us make sure they are mistakes and not representative of our true character.  We need to present the virtues of Christ to a world controlled by Satan so that people can be delivered from the wrath that is to come.  The souls of those we know are more important than any personal agendas.  Let us preach the Gospel of unfeigned love, faith and wisdom by who we are and how we act and speak.
 
Bruce Collins
 
Meditation for the week of November 1, 2020

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