Maybe you know the intricacies of the atonement; perhaps you know the five solas and affirm the doctrines of grace. Your favorite hobby is to study the deepest theology and all you like to do is read Puritan after Puritan. To be sure, all of those things a great in themselves. (Yes, read the Puritans!) But when you interact with people, all of that knowledge flies out the window. You have a lot of evidence that you’re knowledgeable, but there isn’t much evidence of love in your heart. When people hear you talk, all they hear is a loud, obnoxious noise.

There are a lot Christians must safeguard themselves against. We deal with the temptations of our sinful flesh, the pressures from the world, and everything in between. We strive to ensure that we’re not falling prey to the claims of society, that we can have our own truth, that we should “live and let live,” or that we should never challenge other people’s actions or beliefs. We know that’s hogwash and flies in the face of God’s Word.

And yet many times I think we forget about the other ditch. We’re so careful about not falling into progressivism or liberalism that we become too focused on just knowing biblical doctrine. In other words, we sacrifice biblical love and compassion at the altar of truth.

Truth is important, of course. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” and “nobody comes to the Father but through [him]” (Jn. 14:6). So, yes — we must contend for the truth, believe in the truth, affirm the truth. All of those things are true. But sometimes we focus so much on knowing the truth that we don’t allow what is true to have a lasting and permanent impact on our hearts.

The late Francis Schaeffer had something to say about that,

Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.

Ugly. The moment we play the “yeah, but” game is the moment we miss the point. It’s vitally — eternally! — important to have possession of the truth. That doesn’t make us smarter than others or superior to our neighbor; it just means God has revealed the truth to us in his Word. But possessing love and compassion is just as important as possessing truth. We need both. We’ve seen what happens when people have supposed “love” and “compassion” but they are far from the truth.

But, Schaeffer says, it’s the ugliest thing in the world to be biblically orthodox yet not have compassion for other people. I agree. What good is our doctrine if we don’t have love. I believe the Bible mentions something like that.

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