With all the pain we go through in life, why do we deal with each other the way we do? I’ve wondered about that, often after sitting down to think about something I did to someone else. We are downright mean when we want to get our way. Then there are the other times we are nice as pie because we want the person of interest, or what they have. Life can be cruel if we allow it, but should love be a principle in our lives?
There are a lot of people who want to get even with others. It’s a vicious cycle that doesn’t seem to end. To be clear, sometimes it is unfair what we go through at the hands of others. To be real, sometimes it is unfair what we do to others.
Some of us get upset when things don’t go our way. We get riled up by the simplest thing. Then we feel guilty when we get even, some not at all. Sometimes we want someone’s attention and get upset when we don’t get it, and that causes other issues.
But is there a better way? I say yes. A little while back I lived the sort of life where I dreamed of getting even with people for petty things. These feelings made me a sarcastic man who would grumble. I got upset when things didn’t go my way, which used to happen with a lot of things like most of us.
So, when I started changing and reading the Bible more, things started to click. It was during those times I started to think more about love; I especially thought about what love meant, and as I studied the Bible and talked to the Lord, I began to learn new things about life and how to live life differently.
The most important thing I discovered about love is its desire is for the good of the object of our attention, regardless of what we get out of it. Yeah, I used to think love came with kissy faces. But having a solid definition of love changed the way I understood and lived my life. Love is sort of the glue that holds everything together, literally.
So then, should love be a principle in life?
We tend to be more forgiving of people we love. Our children, our parents, our siblings; if we hold onto the things they’ve done to us, if we love them, we are more willing to speak with them in their time of need. Love becomes a principle by itself when we understand this.
The Bible tells us that Love is patient and kind, forgiving, humble, not envious, and not boastful, among other good qualities. When we examine God’s Salvation in detail and are allowed to see properly, what we understand is that we are lumps of clay formed by God. Yet He was willing to send His Son to die here so that we don’t have to face His wrath in a time to come.
God does not need us for anything. God could have destroyed our whole world; But still He considered us enough to die for.
Should love be a principle in life? Yes! Learning everything new has allowed me to engage life in a different way. Through faith. Through love. We do not make it easy on one another. But when we lead with love, life tends to give us better choices than what we had when we only wanted to get our way.
Love gives us a better balance in responding to people. Ourselves included. Making love a principle in our lives gives us a good foundation for growing and maturing. And that is the importance of making love a principle in life.
When we live by love, we can grow past the pain points where we see people stagnate in life. The limits we set for ourselves can be pushed aside as we mature. I don’t know how that is, but it is as if our capacity to live is increased by Love.
One thing I do know is that the Lord said two of the greatest commandments have to do with love, and that all other laws and prophecies hang on love. The exact words are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength”, and the second one is “Love your neighbor as yourself”. This is found in Matthew 22:37-40.
Love expressed in actions and words that match one another can change who we are for the better. Love can also allow others to change and heal. When love is a principle of our lives, we allow a lot of good things to happen around us. That is, we can influence people around us.
People who are guided by love know that outcomes are far different. We no longer care to try to be the center of everything. We no longer try to get our way in everything. But when we set our hearts to accomplish something, we do so for the greater good. In doing so, the only people negatively affected by our actions are typically selfish people.
