Thursday; March 17

I remember being a teenager doing Bible Study and discussing the concept of love. I knew a little bit about the idea of romantic love, but the concept of Christian love (or charity as it was called by many back in the day) stretched my mind a bit. As I was trying to grasp the notion, I remember my mom explaining that love is wanting the best for someone else. Sure, we could make it a lot more complex than that, but I think that captures the heart of the matter.
The other day I was thinking about another word – one that I would eventually come to understand as the polar opposite of love. Most of us are familiar with the word “malice”, but what does it mean? The New Testament tells us, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31). This verse indicates that it is a bad thing, but can we define it? If love is wanting the best for people, malice is hoping the worst for them. Malice transcends the reactive emotion of anger and seeks to damage to someone. While the harm can be physical, it doesn’t have to be. Malice can lead us to say mean and nasty things about someone or even plot to destroy their reputation or damage their future. Love is about encouraging others to feel good; malice seeks to make them feel bad.
Christians have been called to love one another. If that isn’t what we are doing, what does it say about our true relationship with Christ?

Think About It!

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