There is No Way to Love

Perhaps the most incredible and revealing command that Christ gives is that we are to love our enemies. At the risk of oversimplifying this amazing statement, I want to make three brief observations from Brian Zahnd's book "Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God":

1. Who are our enemies? Zahnd defines them as “someone who’s story you haven’t heard”. I think this definition, while maybe not comprehensive, is a perfect place to begin. Many times if everyone were to understand the stories of those who we call enemies, we would no longer be enemies. This is great because when it comes right down to it, “love your enemies really means to have no enemies”, to quote Rob Bell.

2. Christ shows us the lengths that love will go to for “enemies”. Zahnd writes:

“At the cross, we discover that the God revealed in Christ would rather die in the name of love

than kill in the name of freedom.”

Please sit with that for a little bit before you move on. What does that say about love? What does that say about us? What does that say about the major conflicts in our world today?

3. There is no way to love, love is the way. So, that's not actually in the book. What is in the book is the quote "there is no way to peace, peace is the way." I think both are true. Peace cannot be attained through any other means other than to stop fighting. In the same way, there is no path we walk that leads us to find love at the end. Love IS the path. We do not need to to have all the answers or have everything figured out before we live and act in love.

For anyone wanting to know more about the divine nature of love, Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God is a fantastic read. You can check it out alongside Brian Zahnd's other works on Amazon.com. A direct link to his author page can be found here.

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

Matthew 5:44