Many give out the question that if God loves everyone, how could he judge them? The definition of love in our society tends to lean towards accepting every aspect of a person and letting them go on and do what they want to do even if it ends up leading to negative results. So therefore, if God does not condone our sins and faults, it apparently makes Him unloving, unkind, and unreasonable.
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
(Proverbs 3:12 ESV)
Let’s put it in a relate-able perspective. We have a parent who loves their child and finds out their child has been continually trying to kill themselves. Does the parent who is deeply concerned for their child, condone the harmful actions of the child? Is this parent loving if they allow their child to continue to harm themselves? If we apply societies definition of love, the parent would be considered unloving if they do not condone the destructive actions of their child and allow the child to do what they wanted under the argument that it’s the child’s body and life to do as they please. Add in the fact that the child wants to do this to themselves, and you’ve basically got society’s seal of approval for the child’s actions. No regard for the people who are affected by the child’s actions, no regard for the moral aspect of the situation, and no regard for the final well being of the child.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
(James 1:14-15 ESV)
The reason we don’t like people pointing at our actions and saying they are wrong has to do with our pride and desires. We don’t want people saying the things that we want are wrong because well…we desire them whether they are right or wrong. We try to justify how our actions are right in our own eyes but at the end of the day, it isn’t morals or logic that dictates whether we fight for what we want, it’s our desires.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
(John 3:19-21 ESV)
However, God knows sin hurts and ends up killing us physically and spiritually. Being perfect, He hates sin. Yet do you expect God in His love for us to turn a blind eye to the sins that are killing us spiritually and not warn us of the dangers of our actions? Instead we look at it as restricting, hateful and ignorant to be told about our sins and to be rebuked by God’s word. Because of our selfish mindset, we miss the whole picture of God’s character as He is perfect love. Because God is perfect and because He is loving, He is also just. When we sin, we hurt Him; we hurt others; we hurt ourselves. Ignoring His love for us, we throw it at His face.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
(John 3:16-17)
Despite what our society thinks, love doesn’t mean loving and accepting every part of a person as if everything they do is ok. It is loving a person despite their flaws and desiring to want what’s best for them. Sometimes that does mean tough love especially when pointing out things that they don’t want to admit to be sinful. Yet, it is more unloving to withhold truth that benefits a person even if it’s painful to hear than to stay quiet and accept the matter with a smile.
