Choosing love over hate to find peace and joy

If I hate, only problems will come, but love sets me free.

One of the most misused words in the world today is the word “love.” We think that love is based on mere feelings or physical touch. But love is much more than that. Love is a sacrificial action.

We see love clearly represented in the person and work of Jesus Christ. There is no better image than that because it helps us understand how the owner of everything gave his life for spiritually poor beings.

In today’s verse we are helped to understand the danger of hatred and the blessing of being able to love. Look at three truths that we can analyze and learn today.

Hatred produces enmity. You know, one of the most common ways to show hatred is through resentment. We think that holding a grudge or being bitter towards someone is normal and that some deserve it, but God has commanded us to love even our enemies. When someone hurts me and I decide to hold a grudge, I only hurt my own heart and create unnecessary enmity. Remember that God calls us to have peace with all men.

Love always leads to forgiveness. The real believer cannot hold a grudge because the cross forbids it. How can such a loved person decide to hate another? When we do not forgive, what we do is retain our love for our neighbor. The passage says that love covers all sins — that is the power of love. In fact, that is exactly what happened on the cross. God, who hates sin, gave his son because he loved the sinner, and whoever comes to him receives forgiveness of sins.