Test the spirits

The child was made to feel special.  He was told again and again how much the abuser loved him.  But now, as an adult, he knows the truth: that that love was a lie.  His abuser was incapable of loving him, or of really even seeing him, or any child.  His abuser was blind, imprisoned in adamantine bonds.  All of this raises the question: How do we test spirits? How do we find out what love really is?

    At precisely the point where would expect the apostle Paul to tells us to "love the Lord with all our hearts and souls and minds,” Paul goes in a different direction.  He speaks instead of a love that is beyond us but for us.  Much has been said and written about the famous "love" chapter of I Corinthians but let's keep in mind that wherever the word "love" is used, the phrase, "the love God has for us” or “the love God gives us” could be substituted: "the love God has for us is patent and kind, the love God gives us is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude."  You see, the law of Moses tells us to love the Lord our God but something even better happens in the new covenant. To understand, go back to the story of the new covenant.  King David was faithfully loved by God; the Lord supported him wherever he went giving help and hope, giving victory over the enemy.  But of course, this faithful love was not only for David but for the people.  God established David's throne forever in order that his people might have rest and dwell secure.  And there was even more to come.  The Bible speaks time and time again of a greater David, one descended from David's line, “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.”  This branch, this shoot is the messiah, Jesus, and God's faithful love supports him and gives him the victory for our sake and yet even this is not the end of the good news, "I will give you the faithful pities of David" (Isa 55:3, Acts 13:34).  Not only are we "more than conquerors” because Jesus has conquered sin and death and the devil for us on the cross, we are also given all the faith and the love that he has, we too are "enfaithed," we too are supported and  helped and given the victory. And here’s what it comes down to: So often we think that love is just natural.  We take it for granted, forgetting that wherever and whenever love occurs it is a gift from the God who is love. It is from our heavenly Father. It is because of the word that rang out even before creation, it is for believers and non-believers (Matt 5:45, Isa 45).  The Bible tells us to test the spirits. So then, when someone says, "I love you," see if it is so.  Does it conform to I Corinthians 13?  Does it conform to the stories to which that chapter is pointing?  A child of course cannot do this; it is the parents' job, it's the community's work to protect children from those who are both deceiving and, most likely, terribly deceived themselves.  Contrary to what many say, the Lord does not teach us to suspend disbelief, rather we are to be scientists and prove what is true.  Well was it once said that theology is “the queen of sciences.”