“And now, these three remain -- faith, hope, and love… but the greatest of these is love.” -- Corinthians 13:13.
On days like today, when people all over the world are grieving for loved ones, for safety, for change in Paris and many other places, I find myself reflecting on love and what that really looks like. I think it’s important to seek out an answer to that thought -- what love looks like -- especially when we seem to be surrounded with events fueled by hatred. So how can we love better, love more? How can we love without limitations in the midst of such terror, and why should we? I don’t have all the answers to these questions, but I do know we were called to love because He first loved us. I also know that anger and hate takes much more energy than love; those things drain us, but love sustains.
First Peter 4:8 calls us to “Love each other deeply, above all else, because love covers over a multitude of sins”, which again begs the question -- what does loving so relentlessly look like? I’m not so sure, but I’ll tell you what I think it looks like. I think it looks like donating to emergency efforts for Paris. I think it looks like prayer if you can’t. It looks like smiling at people on the streets, just because. It looks like standing for freedom. It looks like giving thanks for the freedoms we still have. It looks like support for the widow and the orphan. It looks like hugs, laughter and joy in the middle of a storm. It looks like home, like community, like friends, like family. It looks like everything from buying someone a cup of coffee to traveling across the world to help your neighbors in Christ. It looks unconditional, relentless, objective and extraordinary. It looks like something beyond ourselves, because it is.
Now I know what you’re thinking… that’s easier said than done, right? Part of me wants to say yes, the other part of me wants to say no. I want to say no because I believe we can be the generation to drive out hatred with love. I believe we are smart enough to know that being angry doesn’t change a thing, but maybe love can. Sure, we can’t change the past -- we can’t bring back what’s been lost -- but we can change the future. We can be a generation, a nation that chooses to rally around love.
I know this all sounds silly, impossible, belittling even, but I want to assure you that it’s not. I’m well aware we alone cannot overcome the terror places like Paris are experiencing right now, but I’m even more aware that we can “take heart, because [our God] has overcome the world (John 16:33).” So in times of terror, let’s choose love. In times of triumph, let’s choose love. In all seasons of life, it is my hope that we will be the generation that chooses to love without limits every day.
