I was driving by a church sign this week that quoted the famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:6. “Love does not rejoice in evil, but rejoices in the truth.”

I’ve read this chapter countless times, but it was this drive-by encounter with this snippet of scripture that had me thinking about evil and truth for a few blocks.

After reading the sign, I was reminded of the deceptiveness of tolerance. Tolerance is seen as a means to love. Tolerance says if you let people do what they want, what they feel is right, that is tolerant, that is right, that is love. As a culture, we have been trained to accept people and let them “follow their heart” because our culture has turned love into a warm and fuzzy emotion. So standing up for what is right is deemed unloving because it can create a conflict.

But love does not rejoice in evil; it rejoices in the truth. This is a radically different picture of love than our culture’s view. Biblical love is based on what is ultimately best for the person, not just what satisfies the relationship in the moment. Biblical love is based on the truth of the Bible, not an emotional feeling of whether something is wrong or right.