To Love, Yet Be Principled

It can sometimes be difficult to understand how to love and yet, at the same time, be principled. I struggled for many years with the concept of what Christian love was supposed to look like. You hear terms used such as patience, tolerance, kindness, giving, unselfishness, etc. But just how does principle enter the equation?

Since attending the Plainfield Bible Studies and Roundtables, I’m finding a new sense of what it means to be a follower of Christ, and to work for God. In these classes, topics such as making boundaries, learning to speak up, to say no, etc., have been discussed. These are excellent practices, but I needed more to break through my strongly held beliefs and behaviors — especially a false sense of what it meant to be a Christian, which had turned me into a doormat.

What I thought was love was just a desire to keep the peace and avoid conflict. Mary Baker Eddy, in her article, “Ways That Are Vain,” states, “This mistaken way, of hiding sin in order to maintain harmony, has licensed evil, allowing it first to smoulder, and then break out in devouring flames. All that error asks is to be let alone ….” (My., p. 211)

I am beginning to see that it is best to let God lead you. What may seem right in my eyes may not be right in God’s eyes, because human opinions can be tainted by wrong motives. Since I have been using the ideas taught here, I find I am less judgmental, less condemning, and I have more joy, peace, and patience. But I am also learning to take a stand with God, to be more firm and not let wrong rule the right.