What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.
Fallen man hates God. As a result, he hates everything which reminds him of God: all goodness, all beauty, all truth. But fallen man is, by His mercy and His wrath (Luke 12:48), pervasively corrupt, not completely corrupt. He is formed in the image of God, and he has not yet been allowed to turn his whole moral nature into sin. Every action he takes is polluted beyond hope, but he is still capable of mixing virtue into his vice, of strengthening his corruption with the remnants of His image, of righteousness. Thus, fallen man can be loyal and diligent and even (in a way) kind; thus, fallen man can recognize and desire these traits in others.
Without this capability, the world as we know it would be very different. If God did not restrain men from fullness of corruption (on this earth), he would hurl himself headlong into the consequences of his fundamental rebellion. Fallen man’s fundamental rebellion is to say, ‘There is no God,’ and to seek to live as if he himself is the new deity (Ps. 14:1-3). He substitutes his authority and his reality for God’s. The result, allowed to reach its fullest extent, is volition which maximizes vileness, a state where a man subsumes his whole character into undifferentiated wickedness. He hates all that God has given him, and so he becomes as nothing as he can make himself.
Because God has given us all. God gave us life and being and truth and beauty (John 1:3; Col. 1:16). In this world, fallen men are given the mercy of restraint. They can use and to an extent enjoy His creation, including themselves. That they abuse it is their damnation deepened (Luke 12:48).
So the fallen man recognizes a truth: the desirability of steadfast love, loyalty in pursuing the other’s good, consistent application of His law. He recognizes that marital fidelity is beautiful and to be desired, even as he mocks the reflection of His covenant in marriage. He recognizes that the ‘friend closer than a brother’ should be pursued.
The Christian, though, has been by God given eyes to see the full truth and wonder and desirability of steadfast love, for we have been given to love steadfastly by Him who steadfastly loved us from all eternity. His love is the foundation of all this: we know that He loves us, that He desires only our good. We know also that because His love is steadfast (Ps. 136) and unchanging (Num. 23:19), we need not fear that He will change in His dealing with us, not truly (see Job), for His law is His love’s course, and He has shown us His law.
We love Him because He first loved us. That love is the foundation of all we do. Because we love Him, we keep His commandments (John 14:15), for love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:8). Because we love Him, we love His creation in consonance with its nature as His creation: each other as His image and by the relationships He has ordained; His world according to His law, with particular regard for that which He gives us to steward and that which He gives our brothers to steward; His word with growing understanding of the immense gift therein given (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Because of this pervading love, which ever more characterizes His people, just as sin ever more characterizes the unrepentant sinner, we find every suffering becoming more and more endurable, so long as it is suffering in His name (John 15:18-19) and in pursuit of His law (Ps. 1:1-2). We find that chastisement is, however painful, desirable, for it turns us towards loving Him more. We learn to despise lying and all vice, all things which are assaults against Him, however impotent. Most of all, though, we grow in relationship with Him, in perception of His love for us (1 Pet. 1:8), in anticipation of future growth in that blessedness.
God bless.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Colson Potter writes copious fiction and nonfiction, including a weekly Proverbs post and his blog at Creational Story.
