Musing on the Word : God is Love

“Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them. Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbours as you love yourself. I am the Lord.”

(Leviticus 19 : 17-18)


The theme here is “God Is Love”, and although it seems a simple enough theme, God’s love has always been on a somewhat higher plane; we have never been able to fully comprehend it in all its form and splendour. That is because God’s love is unquestioningly forgiving and merciful, a quality most of us lack due to flawed human nature. As this passage shows us, it is not in the nature of God to hold grudges and live with hate, and this vengeful attitude is not what He wishes us to adopt.
One would suppose that the strength and forgivingness of His love has in part to do with His belief that people can change for the better, and that He should and would be more than happy to embrace anyone that repents. Our human nature, plus growing up in the society we are in now, has taught us in part to be somewhat sceptical of everyone, even loved ones, especially when they have betrayed our trust. Then again, if we think about it, He has probably been betrayed and hurt by more people and to a greater depth than we will ever experience, and yet he still finds it in Him to be able to forgive us, even if we betray His trust again and again.

We are all His children, and He dotes on us and will never want to see us be led astray. That’s why he will always keep His arms open to us so we can always return to Him. The knowledge that He will always accept us if we repent instead of shutting us out in anger is one big reason why, with Him, there is always hope for us. Of course, we should not take advantage of His forgiveness and make empty promises to repent, when all we will do is to shun Him away again. We should learn to be appreciative of His love for us by reciprocating that same love to others, to “love your neighbours as you love yourself”, and as Jesus said, “to love one another as I have loved you”.
Of course we will find it completely impossible to do so all the time, but we should always remember that it is not by our own effort but by the grace of God that we will be able to love. So ask for our Lord’s mercy and strength, give your friend a smile, and say that “sorry” you’ve been meaning to say for a while. You know you should, and you know He would like it.

By Russell Chander