This is one of the most bastardized phrases used by churchians and one of the most egregiously stupid. Every time they use the phrase it’s not for its actual meaning it’s to pretend you must enable sin because people do it. To churchians false kindness and kumbayah singing is “love”, this modern insane definition is the equivalent of helping a junky OD and calling it “love”.
Love is not cruel or kind, love is doing what’s best for someone. If you love someone they might scorn you for it, but that’s the cost of it. Enabling the sinner is not love, it is sin.
It's one of those sayings that's basically true, but horribly bastardized. Like "The customer is always right," where they lopped off "-in matters of taste."
Love in modern lingo means "feels good" more so than the actual meaning of "wants the absolute best for." Conversely, hate means "feels bad" vs the much darker core of "wants the absolute worst for." And the conflation of these feelings means that whenever something doesn't always feel good, there must not be love anymore. And when someone makes you feel bad, it must be equivalent to them wanting your entire existence erased.
This unholy oversimplification naturally leans towards the negative, leading to love becoming harder and harder to cultivate, and "hate" springing up everywhere from the cold, unfeeling truths of reality.
Sometimes, what's best for someone is discipline, which doesn't feel good. And wanting what's best for a sinner is for them to stop sinning and being destructive, to themselves and others.