True love springs from genuine faith.

That is, in part, what Paul teaches in 1 Timothy 1:5, when he describes the goal of his gospel proclamation. “The aim of our charge,” he insists, “is love that issues from sincere faith.”

Does that mean that I must have sincere faith in order to truly love someone? Yes, because loving people is really, really hard. It is agonizing to be longsuffering with an irritating or irresponsible person. It is difficult to show kindness to someone who has a critical spirit. It takes enormous self-denial to avoid envying someone who gets what I wanted, or boasting over someone wants what I got. It is always easier to insist on my own way and to be irritable and resentful when I don’t get it. It is always easier to rejoice when people do wrong than when they do right. It is hard to bear all things, to believe all things, to hope all things, to endure all things.

Love is hard. It is, in fact, the toughest thing a person must do because it requires self-denial. So, who can truly love? Only those with genuine faith. Why? Because only an unshakable confidence in God who loves me unconditionally can sustain my love for others. Love for others can thrive only in a heart overwhelmed by God’s grace, assured of God’s justice, and resting in God’s purposes.

Yes, true love must spring from faith that is sincere.

That word translated sincere means unfeigned, unhypocritical. Sure, someone can fake his faith for a while. He can go along with the Christian crowd and learn to say the right things and act a certain way. But not when he is called on to love—truly love. Tough, gritty, never-quitting love cannot come from a person who wears a flimsy faith-mask. Sooner or later the faker will give up trying to love God and others because he does not believe it is worth it. His faith is not genuine.

No wonder so many people openly claim to love God—and sincerely think they do—but show utter contempt for others. It is a common self-deception that our sentimental thoughts about God prove that we have love for God. In fact, however, the acid test of our love for God is whether we love others. John put it this way: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

You cannot love unless you have sincere faith. True love must spring from faith that is genuine.