A believer's guide to loving in a loveless world
Welcome to another entry here at deposition of our faith. Thank you for joining us!
This is Week 25.
Scripture Reading: Hosea 11
Contrary to God’s will that we overcome evil with good, we live in a world that indirectly tells us to overcome evil with more evil. Sometimes, the kindest advice you get from the world is to do to others what others have done to you. People use their past experiences as justification for their wickedness all the time. They were cheated, wronged, and treated unfairly, so they take it upon themselves to give the world the same energy they were given. And who can blame you for that?
I’ve seen the way the world works. People take a mile when you give them an inch. People see the goodness of your heart and want to take advantage of your docile nature. They bully, manipulate, and take advantage of those who aren’t ‘street smart’ (a term people often use to justify morally questionable decisions).
In this world, it’s easy to become the reflection you see. Heck, it is often advisable for our survival. We often say, “it is a dog-eat-dog world”. Imagine coming to this world of cannibals and saying not only are you not interested in eating your kind, but you are also a vegetarian. You’d be torn limb from limb!
But, do you want to know something?
The world is such a bad place because too many people are trying to overcome evil with evil. Too many people are taking out the wrong lessons from the game of life. They are wronged and think to themselves, “well, I tried to be good, and I was burned. So now, I’ll get the jump on people and take advantage of them as they would do to me if they were in my situation”.
Jesus is not unaware that the world acts this way. That is why he specifically says:
As you would that men should do to you, do unto them likewise.
(Luke 6:31, Matthew 7:12)
Scripture doesn’t tell us to do unto others what they do unto us. We are told to do what we would like to be done unto us.
The philosophy of evil for evil
You cannot overcome evil with more evil deeds. It’s like trying to quench fire with petrol. That is the trick the devil plays so that he can have evil inspire more evil. Nobody sees mud on his shirt and uses a muddy hand to clean it off. That is what you are doing when you repay evil with evil.
But why do we often do this?
Because goodness is considered stupid, and love is vulnerable.
It’s inadvisable to love unconditionally. The cold, cruel world doesn’t care for your fiery passion, except when they want to warm their hands.
This is why love makes us truly vulnerable. Nobody likes to feel like a fool, which is how we feel most times when we do good consistently and are consistently repaid with evil. The world will say you’re not streetwise and blame you for its own wickedness.
But, we are not called to listen to the world and base our decisions on what the world thinks is wise. We are called to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14). And the spirit and the flesh are fighting for two different agendas (Galatians 5:17).
I think Christians should base their actions on the example of God.
As human beings, we care too much about how goodness and love make us look. To be frank, God writing a whole book as a love letter to a bipedal species that he can literally make from dust is not a good look to me! I have to confess that I have sometimes in times past wondered why one would stoop so low! (Psalm 8:4)
This teaches me that God’s love is an ‘aggressor’ kind of love. It is not about the other person or what they do. And this is the approach God had/has for us, in that he loved us while we were yet sinners.
Look at the example of Christ, who came to die for a world that hated him. Two thousand years have passed, and a sizeable amount of the population could not care any less about his so-called sacrifice. A large number of people don’t even think he’s a messiah or that the crucifixion was anything more than an execution of a heretic. Many even spit on his ‘sacrifice’ and say, “well, I didn’t ask for that, so I wonder why you went through the trouble”.
I have often thought in the past (even sometimes in the present!) that, if I was God, being the future-seeing, omnipotent, omniscient being that I am, I’d never sacrifice a dime for the world. If God loved as the world does, no one would be saved. If I knew that so many people would disregard my actions, then why would I even bother?
Love is an ‘aggressor’
Love is not about the other person and how perfect they are. Loving your neighbour as yourself is what God wants for us, and it’s often a thankless job. In our Bible passage for the week, we see the story of Hosea. God relentlessly told him to continue to reclaim his wife, although he often felt embarrassed, ashamed, hurt and offended by the fact that she was unrepentantly promiscuous. God used Hosea’s experiences as a metaphor for his relationship with Isreal (and with us). You see, if we were to love like the world wants us to, we would be unable to forgive others, sacrifice for others and initiate goodness in our affairs.
As Jesus puts it, there’s nothing special in how the world loves (Luke 6:32). There is nothing special in the way the world gives (Luke 6:34). There is nothing special in the way the world does good (Luke 6:33).
What makes love transcendent is how it behaves when it is tested by contrary winds. People often say love is making a commitment and following it. Yes, it is. The Bible tells us that if we love God, we will follow his commandments. However, what happens when we renege? What happens when we break a promise?
Love is what happens.
Love is what connects us to God, and God’s love transcends our ability to stay faithful to him. When we remain faithful to God, it is merely a way we prove our love for Him, and it is for our own good. But, what happens when we renege? We forgive ourselves because he (who loves us) forgives us, and we return to loving him again.
But what can help us love the way God wants us to?
The Holy Spirit. The fruit of the spirit, and not just the evidence of the spirit. As important as the gift of speaking in tongues is to us believers, Paul tells us that love is even greater than that. In fact, without faith, it is impossible to please God, but even faith is not as great as love (1 Corinthians 13).
Also, let the Word of God dwell in you.
We need to stop filling our minds with the world’s advice over what God is saying. The world may not always have the right answers. Human advice is sometimes tainted with pride, fear, greed, dishonesty, insecurity and more. And just because they would do the same things they are advising you to do doesn’t make the advice any more valid or valuable. People sabotage their lives all the time. There is no use asking God for His direction when we retire and do what the world says we should do regardless.
Also, your thoughts should be dominated by goodness instead of slight, strife and anger. Philippians 4:8.
It is important to stop expecting the world to repay your goodness with good. Jesus Christ assured us that we, who are not above him, will be hated for doing the right things (John 15: 20).
We have come to the end of this article, but it wouldn’t be complete without making mention of this:
Remember what I said about the world repaying our goodness with evil? It won’t always remain that way. Love inspires goodness. Love inspires gratitude. Love inspires love itself. After all, we love because he first loved us.
Jesus told us a parable in the book of Luke:
Luke 7:41–43
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
Only love can inspire love. Only forgiveness can inspire love. Evil, wickedness, and malice cannot inspire love. At least not perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear, and the one who fears is not made perfect in love.
