Devotion by Steve Long
What is Stronger, Love or Hate?
What is stronger, love or hate,
good or evil, right or wrong?
Set me as a seal upon thine
heart, as a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The coals thereof are coals of
fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the
substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Love is strong as death, said the
bride to her groom in Song of Solomon 8.1
One day my wife and I were
leaving the Dallas area. We figured that it wouldn’t take long to get away on
the freeway if we left early on a weekend when the traffic would be light. Once
we got close to the downtown area, we noticed that the traffic started slowing
and getting packed. Not much further it slowed to a trickle, then to a stop.
Then we could only move slowly in intermittent episodes.
Soon, we were all being directed
into one lane on the right, then into an off ramp. We wondered what was
happening. Why were we being redirected? There were people standing on the edge
of the highway with cameras aimed to our left.
As we trudged down the access
road on the right of the freeway, suddenly, across the freeway, to our left, we
saw a building being engulfed in the smoke of dust! A demolition crew had
imploded the many storied building with explosives. When the dust soon cleared,
there was suddenly no building there. It had disappeared into a pile of rubble.
In only a matter of seconds, the old high-rise was destroyed.
I used to do quite a bit of
construction work. One thing I noticed was that when building constructively,
it takes a lot of planning, measuring, and time to lay a foundation and erect a
quality structure.
Not so much when tearing down.
That goes pretty quickly. With sledge hammer and crowbar, a few good men can
take some walls or even a building down in just a short time.
Thus; I ask the question, what is
stronger, love or hate, good or evil? It seems, sometimes, that the work of the
destroyer is so easy, that he is hard to overcome.
A mom and a dad spend countless
hours sitting up with their growing child, expending immense energy. They sink
tremendous amounts of time and money into their little investment. They dote
upon, discipline and dress their beloved one. They transport and travel many
miles for the young man or woman. With pride and joy, they watch him grow up, contributing
every step of the way. They devote great effort to provide for their child’s
best possible education.
One bullet, fired from a distant
chamber, one malicious act, one evil deed can tear down a life in one day after
years of nourishment.
One thoughtless word can destroy
a person’s reputation that took a lifetime to build up.
One illicit affair can bring
down, in a moment, a marriage that was previously built upon years of love and
trust.
One Trojan horse can bring a
covert enemy into a city where it took its people a great deal of time to
construct a wall of protection.
So, it may appear that the power
of destruction is greater than the power of production. It may appear that the
power of death finally wins over that of life, that evil will win over good and
that hate will ultimately conquer love.
The law of the Old Testament had
said: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The concept was to destroy
the destroyer. Makes sense. That way the evil action is punished and the evil
one is stopped. And this is what government has to do to deter wickedness.
But evil often has a way of being
incorrigible and its influence is almost without boundaries. If one wicked one
is stopped, there seems to be five more who step up in his place.
Enter – Jesus Christ. “For God so
loved…”
Jesus said; "You have heard
that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say
to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate
you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” Matthew
5.43-44.
Did Jesus live up to what he
taught? Think about this. When Jesus was being betrayed by his own disciple,
Judas, in the garden of Gethsemane, he had the opportunity to retaliate. Peter
had started the process for him by lopping off a man’s ear with a sword.
But Jesus said: "Put your
sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
(Matthew 26.52)
Why? Love is why. Jesus could
have come down from the cross if he had so willed. He could have easily called
80,000 angels to overcome not only the Sanhedrin and their soldiers but all of
the Roman troops that were occupying Israel at the time.
Yes, Jesus did live up to what he
taught. In fact, he is the only one who has ever fully lived up to it. Even
with our noblest effort, we all come short.
How are you and I to deal with
haters? We are to love them. The bible says; “Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. (Romans 12.21) “Hatred stirs up strife, but love
covers all sins.” (Proverbs 10.12)
Hatred hardens, but love softens.
Whereas love will make one better and make one’s life better; hatred destroys
not just the hated one but the hater. Hatred will eat a person away like cancer
of the soul.
In the end, we know love will
win, because God is love. Though Satan has inflicted his evil acts of hate upon
those who know God, he will not ultimately conquer. Though it might appear that
he has overcome in this world – no, he will be overcome. (Revelation 20.10)
God, the most powerful person in
the universe is in essence, love, the most powerful force in the universe.
Through his love, hate will be defeated.
