“How to Fertilize Love”

 “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.⁸ Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“Love is the greatest thing in earth or heaven. Out of it flows most of the things that are worth while in life. Love of relatives, love of friends, and love of the brethren (1 John 3: 14) make life worth living. There is no heart so empty as the heart that is without love. There is no life so joyful as the love-filled life. Love puts a song in the heart, a sparkle in the eye, a smile on the lips, and makes the whole being glad. And God’s love is greater than all else. He who has God’s love has a continual feast. There may be sorrow and care and suffering in the life; but if there is love, it lightens all these.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 207)

Is it possible to love all people the same? I would say, this is not possible. As we read the scriptures, it seems that even Jesus loved some of his disciples more than others. There are examples where we see Jesus is with only three or four of his disciples—Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These were seemingly the big four disciples – the ones Jesus called on more often than others. There was also the disciple, from John’s Gospel, whom we are told is the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” If love for our brothers and sisters were simply dependent on the Holy Spirit, then, possibly we might love all the same; but love depends to a great extent on other human things as well. Jesus may have found some of his disciples more lovable because of their nature – just the same way that we love those most who seem to us most lovable. We are drawn most to those whose dispositions and characters and interests appeal most strongly to us.

Of course, there is danger of a twofold nature as we seek to love people. On the one hand, we are liable to love some so much that we become partial towards them to such an extent that others will feel that we do not value them as we should. On the other hand, there is danger of looking at the unlovable qualities of others until we lose sight of the good that is in them, and grow prejudiced against them until it becomes hard to feel the proper love.

What we need to remember is, if we are to seek to be loving and to love all people, then we need to stop looking at the things that we find unlovable, and instead try to focus on the good things, the noble qualities of each person. Keep them in mind, and work on forgetting the faults and failings and unlovely traits. Begin to show special kindness, make it a point to speak to the loveable and the unlovable, and show an interest in them. Watch for a chance to do something helpful; go out of your way to do them favors.

What gives us hope for learning to love all people is to remember that Jesus didn’t die for just the loveable folk – he died for all people. Just that fact alone should give us the courage to learn to love the unlovable.

Pastor Dave