Love – AND Beat, Kill, Distrust, Disrespect, Tear Down, Destroy? Or….

It took me awhile to get back to this theme. Love is an AWESOME value, and a difficult one to live up to. I found myself overwhelmed by my own shortcomings to the point that I became discouraged from writing. But God….

The Bible says that real love “…is not easily provoked, and it thinks no evil…” (1st Corinthians 13: 5b). So…. When a spouse beats a significant other (verbally or physically) and says she or he loves the other, is it true? When one spouse checks the other’s cell phone because the other MUST be seeing someone else, is that truly love? Perhaps some folks think so. Perhaps there are other forces at play. Perhaps the spouse that beats the other spouse WANTS to love. Perhaps the spouse that beats the other BELIEVES she or he loves but, because of any number of reasons, that spouse is incapable of loving anyone else. Perhaps that spouse has never known REAL love, and never loved him- or herself, so she or he does not know how to love anyone else.

Perhaps the spouse that distrusts the other WANTS to believe in her or him. Perhaps the spouse that disrespects wants to honor the other. Perhaps the one who tears down the self esteem and reputation of the other has grown up in an environment that demonstrated such behavior as okay, even loving. Perhaps many people would be happy to be treated in such manners. I personally would not. I would much rather be trusted, respected, esteemed, and built up.

Perhaps it is love to ‘mistreat others’, perhaps it is not. I leave you to answer that. I can say this with confidence…. According to the love that God demonstrated to us, “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…” (Romans 5:8), and enabled our adoption into the family of God (Gal. 4:5-6). Christ did not beat us; He blessed us. Christ did not curse us; He prayed for us. Christ did not turn us away; He gently and lovingly reached out to gather us to Himself. Christ did not allow us to die in our sickness, confusion, and rebellion; by His stripes, He healed us. The further we went from Him, the further He went for us. As we consider our love for others, let us remember God’s (and Christ’s) love for us. Neither God nor Christ is easily provoked, and neither God nor Christ thinks evil of us, in spite of us. Let us follow their examples.