February 10, 2023 — “How to Fertilize Love”

 “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“It’s important to look at the context of these verses on love. A major theme of this letter Paul writes to the church at Corinth is unity. There are tons of problems happening within the church due to divisive spirits and selfish attitudes. Basically, Christians acting in an un-loving manner toward each other. Paul’s heart is that, “there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Cor. 1:10). And oh, how we Christians struggle with this concept today. Fights, drama, disagreements… they are a lot more frequent than we’d like to admit. But at our core, I think each of us knows we are made to be loving. That’s why the outcry is so strong when we hear of any violent act in our world – we know it goes against our very nature.” (healthychristianhome.com)

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 liked 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. Let us love each other knowing Christ died for all people.

Let us pray: Dear G-d, 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. Today give me the courage to learn to love the unlovable. Amen.

Pastor Dave