A Universal Truth
Love is a universal concept everyone I think can understand. Yet in our world today there seems to be less of it.
We only have to look at the events in any news cast to see how hatred seems to dominate the airwaves.
When an exceptional act of love or kindness is discovered it seems to be so unusual that it makes the news. Yet acts of love should permeate our society.
The fact that acts of violence are increasing shows we as a society are turning away from the ideals I believe God has laid in the hearts of all men.
Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Anne Frank a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis in the occupied Netherlands during world war two wrote,
“Give of yourself, give as much as you can? And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! If everyone were to do this and not be as mean with a kindly word, then there would be much more justice and love in the world. Give and you shall receive, much more than you would have ever thought possible. Give, give again and again, don’t lose courage, keep it up and go on giving! No one has ever become poor from giving!”
Anne Frank
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver in 1940 said,
"There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate. Love is always a refuge. Hate is never a refuge. Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates. But love is the enduring sanctuary of life. Life may rob you of many things. It often does. But it can never bereave us of love itself. That remains."
-Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, rabbinic leader, from a December 22, 1940, sermon.
It is true only a mentally ill person can find refuge in hate.
Today when terrorists are spreading their hate around the world they fail to see that hate cannot win a single soul to their cause. It cannot conquer the world. Many men have tried and are now mentioned only in history books.
T. H White said,
“There was just such a man when I was young—an Austrian who invented a new way of life and convinced himself that he was the chap to make it work. He tried to impose his reformation by the sword, and plunged the civilized world into misery and chaos. But the thing which this fellow had overlooked, my friend, was that he had a predecessor in the reformation business, called Jesus Christ. Perhaps we may assume that Jesus knew as much as the Austrian did about saving people. But the odd thing is that Jesus did not turn the disciples into storm troopers, burn down the Temple at Jerusalem, and fix the blame on Pontius Pilate. On the contrary, he made it clear that the business of the philosopher was to make ideas available, and not to impose them on people.”
T. H. White, The Once and Future King.
Even Napoleon Bonaparte who himself tried to conquer Europe said,
"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force.
Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”
“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Jesus and His apostles literally turned their world upside down. Not by the sword but through the love of God.
To day around the world there are billions who follow the teachings of Christ and that number is increasing even in places where Christianity is being persecuted.
Christians are showing that through the Love of God, the Love of Christ, the world can be changed for the better one person at a time.
The writer of Proverbs said,
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”
Proverbs 3:3,4
Please think about it.
“Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.Love is a universal concept everyone I think can understand. Yet in our world today there seems to be less of it.
We only have to look at the events in any news cast to see how hatred seems to dominate the airwaves.
When an exceptional act of love or kindness is discovered it seems to be so unusual that it makes the news. Yet acts of love should permeate our society.
The fact that acts of violence are increasing shows we as a society are turning away from the ideals I believe God has laid in the hearts of all men.
Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Anne Frank a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis in the occupied Netherlands during world war two wrote,
“Give of yourself, give as much as you can? And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! If everyone were to do this and not be as mean with a kindly word, then there would be much more justice and love in the world. Give and you shall receive, much more than you would have ever thought possible. Give, give again and again, don’t lose courage, keep it up and go on giving! No one has ever become poor from giving!”
Anne Frank
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver in 1940 said,
"There is one other fundamental difference between love and hate. Love is always a refuge. Hate is never a refuge. Only a mentally sick person can find refuge in his hates. But love is the enduring sanctuary of life. Life may rob you of many things. It often does. But it can never bereave us of love itself. That remains."
-Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, rabbinic leader, from a December 22, 1940, sermon.
It is true only a mentally ill person can find refuge in hate.
Today when terrorists are spreading their hate around the world they fail to see that hate cannot win a single soul to their cause. It cannot conquer the world. Many men have tried and are now mentioned only in history books.
T. H White said,
“There was just such a man when I was young—an Austrian who invented a new way of life and convinced himself that he was the chap to make it work. He tried to impose his reformation by the sword, and plunged the civilized world into misery and chaos. But the thing which this fellow had overlooked, my friend, was that he had a predecessor in the reformation business, called Jesus Christ. Perhaps we may assume that Jesus knew as much as the Austrian did about saving people. But the odd thing is that Jesus did not turn the disciples into storm troopers, burn down the Temple at Jerusalem, and fix the blame on Pontius Pilate. On the contrary, he made it clear that the business of the philosopher was to make ideas available, and not to impose them on people.”
T. H. White, The Once and Future King.
Even Napoleon Bonaparte who himself tried to conquer Europe said,
"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”
“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force.
Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”
“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”
Napoleon Bonaparte,
Jesus and His apostles literally turned their world upside down. Not by the sword but through the love of God.
To day around the world there are billions who follow the teachings of Christ and that number is increasing even in places where Christianity is being persecuted.
Christians are showing that through the Love of God, the Love of Christ, the world can be changed for the better one person at a time.
The writer of Proverbs said,
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”
Proverbs 3:3,4
Please think about it.
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