"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
-I Corinthians 13:4-8a
If you are a Christian I'm sure you have heard this verse numerous times. You may even have the verse memorized. But when was the last time you actually evaluated yourself by the standards in this verse? I had never done that until this morning. In church Pastor Ben talked about love. Not love like the world knows, but love that can only come from God, agape. Agape is a Greek word for love which means: "self-sacrificing, giving love to all--both friend and enemy."
That is quite profound when you think about it. A self-sacrificing love for both your friend and foe. How many times do we think of love like this? I would venture to guess that it is not too often. So many times we try to "put up with" our enemies or "tolerate" them, but hardly ever love them. Yet, this is a reoccurring commandment that is given to us by Jesus. We are to "love our enemies, and bless those who persecute us." This is unhuman. It is against our nature to want to love our enemies and help those who have hurt us.
For me this is the hardest part of my faith. I have no problem loving my friends and family, those who treat me well. Loving those who annoy, bother, frustrate me however is another story. It's so easy to fall into the trap of making fun of these people and even being mean right back to them. This is my struggle, but this is also what I am determined to change. I believe that love can cure a multitude of sin. If love reigns, there are very few times sin will abound. If we could all love like Christ this world would be unrecognizable to us. There would be so much less pain, suffering, and certainly no hatred for other humans. It sounds so easy, but as we know things are not always as they seem. I challenge you to try love.
Peace and love.
