No love = Heresy

I read this article today and had to pass it along because it resonates so deeply within me. I firmly believe we have a serious love deficiency in the Church. This quote below is so good:

The thing is there’s absolutely nothing fluffy, post-modern, or sentimental about placing love above doctrinal correctness, for this conviction permeates the NT! Truth be told, we shouldn’t even contrast “love” and “doctrinal correctness” in the first place. We should rather regard the command to love as the most foundational doctrine of the church and thus the most important doctrine to be correct on! Peter says, “Above all, love each other deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins” (and alleged “heresies”? I Pet. 4:8, cf., Col 3:14). If love is to be placed “above all,” then there simply can’t be any other command or doctrine or agenda that competes with it for the top position. It must stand on top alone. Paul makes the same point, but even more emphatically, when he tells us it doesn’t matter how right we are, how spiritually gifted we are, how intelligent or wise we are, or even how much faith and service we display; if these aren’t accompanied by love, they are a noisy gong or clanging cymbal (I Cor 13:1-3). In other words:

Correct doctrine - love = worthless noise!

If we take this teaching seriously, it means that nothing – absolutely nothing! — matters if love isn’t present…which means that love is the most important doctrine we can ever embrace…which means that our willingness to love is the most important criteria of orthodoxy…which means that, if ever it is appropriate to label anything “heresy,” it is the failure to love.