Subject: Help! |
Bible Note: Hi, LF; There is a "method" to love; Paul spelled it out in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. There is no mention of emotions or "warm fuzzies" in that passage, just positive, prescriptive actions. I once heard someone suggest an even simpler method. He (she?) defined love as "always ascribing the best possible motive to the other's behavior" - always believing that your loved-one (spouse, friend, child, parent, or God himself) acted out of the best possible motive. How many times have you heard someone say "you did that just to hurt me", or "he said that just to make her jealous", or "you must hate me; if you didn't, you wouldn't have ________"? It's not the action or words (often trivial) that these complaints condemn; it's the presumed motive behind them. That in turn is not an attack on behavior but on the person him/herself. Love would not say or think these things. Instead, love would seek another reason or another viewpoint that would reveal the best, not the worst, in the other person. Love, it has been said, isn't an emotion, it's a decision. Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |