Daily devotion – The opposite to love.
The opposite to love.
At just about every wedding service that I have officiated at, the words of the Apostle Paul are read out from 1 Corinthians 13 about love – 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails..
Sadly, most people just think this is a poem of some sort when it is in fact the Biblical definition of what love really is.
As such, these words should actually define what the wedding service is about and what the groom and bride are about to promise.
People often think that the opposite to love is hate (although it may take that form).
In reality the opposite to love is selfishness!
When a husband and wife are concerned only about their own individual desires, the stage is set for conflict.
The Bible gives each of us another way – the way of Jesus Christ. True love, it says, is SELF GIVING, not self-seeking. True love puts the needs of others first!
This is what Christ did when He left Heaven’s glory and came down to earth for us. He then offered Himself as a sacrifice and died a cruel death on the Cross of Calvary for each of us.
It is this love that Paul says a husband is to give to his wife….Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. – Ephesians 5:25
Today, seize the opportunity to love as Christ loves – and the Bible says the world will know that you are His disciple by the love you have one for another!