What is the opposite of love? To know this I may need to know what love is. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what charity, or agape, is.
It is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not conceited, proper, selfless, not easily outraged, and does not hold a grudge.
So when someone treats you unkindly, or they hold a grudge against you, or any number of the things that are not love, we feel unloved.
Despised. Hated.
I want to look at some scriptures we all know that we can go back to when we are feeling unloved, whether it is by a friend, stranger, spouse, or another family member.
Felling loved is the best feeling we can experience. Feeling hated…? Well, I know it’s not pleasant!
What do we do when we are feeling unloved? Do we react with coldness or hatred?
The Bible says we should love them and pray for them.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? Matthew 5:34-37
Be kind and patient, forgiving and selfless. Act with humility knowing that we have not always been a perfect example of patience ourselves and realizing that the only good we have in our own heart is not of ourselves, but it comes from the Lord.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. 1 Corinthians 13:4
We can pray that the Lord give us grace if we don’t feel it freely flowing over the current situation. God wants to answer such prays and it pleases Him for us to ask.
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6
We can always remember, however, that humans are flawed, and the only one who will love us with perfect love all the time without fail is God.
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. I John 4:10
This is the love we can depend on time and time again, whether or not we feel we deserve it, whether or not we are feeling loved by others, and whether or not anyone in the world believes you deserve love. God loves you
God will always love you.
Abundantly Blessed Mama 