I love to study. It is one of my most enjoyable pastimes.
One of the things I am learning, however, is that all research and study is most properly framed in love.
Love is not only the beginning point of study, but the ending point as well.
As I study, I am seeking answers to these sorts of questions:
- What is God like so that I can learn to love Him more?
- What is Jesus like so I can love others in similar ways?
- What are people like so that I can be there in their times of need?
I used to think that the highest goal of study was truth. I sought truth at all costs.
But now I am beginning to learn that truth at the expense of love is not truth at all. Just as love without truth is not love, so also, truth without love is not truth.
Truth, when it is properly discovered, will always lead us more toward toward. Always. If you learn something which you believe is true, and it does not lead you to love others more, rest assured that what you have learned is not true. Truth must make us more like the One Who Is Always True, Jesus Christ. And just as He was always loving, patient, forgiving, and kind, so also, as we grow in our knowledge of the truth, we will also grow in our ability to love.
When we learn, we learn to love like Jesus.
In this way, the highest virtues and loftiest goals of the academic scholar are not analytic thinking, attention to detail, or persistence in long hours of research, but rather humility, love, and patience toward others.
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