During this time of year our attention turns toward love, but do you have the right kind of love? Paul prepared Timothy to deal with teachers who were unfaithful (1 Timothy 1:3-4) and those who wanted to be teachers who were unqualified (1 Timothy 1:6-7). Those teachers who are either unfaithful to the Word of God or are unqualified in the Word of God will undermine the right kind of love. Later in this passage Paul explains the law is not for the righteous, but it is to be used to show sinners their need of forgiveness through believing the gospel (1 Timothy 1:8-11). The key verse in this passage is 1 Timothy 1:5, where Paul expounds, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” This verse reveals three things necessary to be a vessel of the right kind of love.

First, the right kind of love comes from a pure heart. W. E. Vine says the heart is “the hidden seat of the human will, its thoughts, affections, and emotions in general. The pure heart is that which is free from the admixture of everything that is corrupt and false.” Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). James exhorts “double-minded” people to “purify your hearts” (James 4:8). Peter writes, “love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).

Second, the right kind of love comes from a good conscience. Warren W. Wiersbe explains, “Conscience is the inner judge that accuses us when we have done wrong and approves us when we have done right. It is possible to sin against the conscience so that it becomes ‘defiled.’ Repeated sinning hardens the conscience so that it becomes ‘seared’ like scar tissue.” Hebrews 10:22 reads, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Third, the right kind of love comes from sincere faith. Ray Stedman comments, “faith is believing what God has said about the total end of your old life and the impartation of a new life identified with the righteousness of Christ — that is what you believe. You are a new person; you are not the same. Everything of corrective nature in Christianity is to come back to that source.” Sincere faith is “genuine” or unhypocritical faith as Paul mentions in 2 Timothy 1:5. Our affirmations and our actions must match.

The right kind of love comes from having a right relationship with God and helping others to get right with Him. It involves “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), not just being sweet and nice to everyone. Someone explains, “In a sense this (‘love...’) is also the goal, or one could also say purpose, of this entire epistle.” Make certain you have and give the right kind of love.

Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, of Robertsdale, is the author of "Don't Miss the Revival! Messages for Revival and Spiritual Awakening from Isaiah.