Sunday, October 9, 2011

Love

Love is a very broad concept which is described beautifully in Corinthians. I just discussed compassion in my last post, which of course is part of love. Here is what Corinthians has to say about love. Johannes Brahms sets the last sentence to music as an end to his unbelievable set of four last songs. "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails...But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13 These statements about love are just awesome. To me the first statement means that love is unconditional, and that a person needs to be loved for who they are. Each person is unique. Unconditional does not mean without compromise. Compromise within reasonable boundaries equals a loving relationship with another human being or even animal. Lack of kindness and jealousy serve no good purpose. Love can conquer those things. Arrogance serves no good purpose either, and it is no loving to look down on other people. Bitterness and hatred serve no good purpose either. Forgiveness is tough sometimes to practice, but it is loving. It is hard when a person suffers a terrible wrong, and the person who administered the wrong wants forgiveness. It certainly never fails. Somehow, that is a tough concept to grasp, isn't it? I can certainly think of moments when I have loved myself, another human being, or a pet and have acted based on love. It absolutely does not well. Anger does, unless it is constructive and comes from a place of love. Again, I hope someone got something out of this posting.

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