(This is a post written by JA, It is wonderful and I think I need to share it with others. It is very true and gets me thinking about what (she/he) says here...)
Love
~~~~~~~~~
"If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth
But didn't love others,
I would only be making meaningless noise
Like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I had the gift of prophesy,
And if I knew all the mysteries of the future
And knew everything about everything,
But didn't love others,
What good would it be?
And if I had the gift of faith
So that I could speak to a mountain
And make it move,
Without love
I would be no good to anybody.
If I gave everything I have to the poor
And even sacrificed my body,
I could boast about it;
But if I didn't love others,
I would be of no value whatsoever.
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jelous or boastful
Or proud or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable,
And it keeps no record
Of when it has been wronged.
It is never glad about injustice
But rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up,
Never loses faith,
Is always hopeful,
And endures through every circumstance.
Love will last forever..."
1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Love...I was thinking about it the other day, and I came to the conclusion that there really isn't a single definition for Love. Some might define Love as the feelings husbands and wives have for each other. Yes, I suppose it is, but aren’t the feelings parents have for their children also Love? Aren’t the feelings that brothers and sisters have for each other also Love? And the feelings that friends, or relatives have for each other? Isn't it all Love? Do you see what I mean when I say there is no single definition of it? The love a Mother has for her child is not the same as the love she has for her husband. The love a child has for his parent is not the same as the love he has for his sister. The love a person has for his friend is not the same he has for his enemy. Ah, yes, I did say enemy. I was thinking mostly about the love we, as Christians, should have for our enemies. It's so hard to love your enemies, but, as I learned from an elderly lady in my church, you don't have to like someone to love them. In other words, you can still love someone even if you don't like them. I find this very true in my case. I guess loving your enemies (and by enemies I mean those that are morally and spiritually wrong according to the Bible. I am not speaking yet of those that have wronged us by offending us in their manners or speech, thus making us resent them or be extremely annoyed with them) means having compassion towards them and praying for them to "see the light," if I may say it like that. I think to hate someone for what they believe (or what they don't believe) is only going to make them believe that what we (by "we" I mean Christians) say we believe in and what we actually do are quite opposites. We say we believe in God and follow the Bible, yet if we hate our enemies, what kind of message is the going to send across to them? By loving them with the Love God has given us, we can draw a step closer to conquering Hate. Now, about the other kind of enemies...those that we choose to make our enemies because of our dislike of their way of communicating or acting or speaking etc. I think it is just as important to love them too. You don't have to like them, but Love is, nevertheless, essential. If we caress and nurture a dislike for someone, we plant a seed of Hate. And if we allow it to grow, it will one day turn into a full-grown Hate. Aside from the Hate of Sin, Hate is never going to help anyone strengthen their relationship with God. Without Love, we cannot love God, and without God we are nothing.
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