Some of the most beautiful words ever written about love were authored two thousand years ago by the apostle Paul. The words appear in the Bible’s New Testament. If you have attended a Christian wedding this summer, you may have even heard his words read at the ceremony. No matter how many times any of us have heard or read these words, they are always a good reminder of how we are to live in relationship with others. I, for one, am always moved by them. Here are Paul’s words from his first letter to the Corinthians written almost two thousand years ago.
Love is patient; love is kind.
Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
It does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
And now faith, hope, and love abide,
these three; and the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13)
Sometimes we are better able to understand something when we reflect on its opposite. And so when I read the words below this week about hate, I found that they made me appreciate even more the power of Paul’s words. These words are intended to help us deepen our understanding and commitment to living out the words from 1 Corinthians 13 by looking at its opposite.
Hate is impatient; hate is cruel.
Hate is jealous; it puts on airs.
It is snobbish; it is always rude.
It is self-seeking; it is prone to anger.
Hate rejoices with what is wrong, but does not rejoice with the truth.
There is no limit to hate’s malevolence, to its untrustworthiness, its despair, its weakness to sustain.
Hate never wins.
There are in the end three things that fail:
Deceit, despair, and hate.
And the weakest of these is hate.
(Rob MacSwain, shared with permission)
Each of us must do our part to stand up and speak out against hate, both in our public, and private lives. We must work to ensure that, “Hate never wins” and that, “Love never ends.”
Article by The Rev. Dr. D. Scott Stoner, Living Compass
Portions of these thoughts were shared in a previous column I wrote several years ago, in response to acts of hatred that had occurred that week. Regrettably, these words are still timely in response to the horrifying acts of violence that occurred once again this past week.
