Love

Ray Ortlund post:  Withheld love vs. expressed love

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.”  Proverbs 3:27

The alternative translation in the ESV margin is “Do not withhold good from its owners.”  If I have good I can do for somebody, then legally I own it but morally they own it.  The state has no right to force me to be generous.  And no one can walk into my house and start taking my things and say, “The Bible says I own it.”  What the Bible says to them is “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15).  But what the Bible says to me is “You shall not withhold.”

A church is a culture of life is where people love each other openly and eagerly, with a sense of responsibility to God.