I greatly enjoyed Love Matters More: How Fighting to Be Right Keeps us from Loving Like Jesus. Jared Byas, the co-host of the popular podcast The Bible for Normal People, wrote this book in 2020 – what a year for such a message! His basic premise is found right here in the title: Love matters more. If we have to make a hierarchy of importance for aspects of the Christian faith then we must place love at the very top.

The book is an easy and enjoyable read written for a broad audience appeal. Using a wide variety of amusing anecdotes Byas walks the reader through various aspects of the central claim of the book: love matters more. It addresses the need for humility, the idol of certainty,  and the oft-quoted scriptural phrase “speaking the truth in love.” He has a helpful distinction in chapter 2 where he details the various kinds of truth. His kinds of truth are as follows:

• fact-truth
• meaning-truth
• wisdom-truth

He shows that all forms of truth are important, but wisdom-truth is the highest ideal because it is about having a life well lived in love. One of the most helpful and practical things I took from this book is the following idea: unless we are in love with the person in front of us whatever we say, no matter how true, is not true. This has been a great challenge for me, but a much needed one.

Byas’s book is a great read and very encouraging. His thoughts on LGBTQ+ might raise some concerns for some readers, but learning to disagree well is an important part of this book. Maybe it is all the more reason to read it so we can learn to disagree well without being emotionally reactive. Grab a copy and let’s chat about it (especially if we disagree about stuff)!

• Purchase a copy here.
• Here is Jared Byas’s website.