Why Are We The Worst To Those We Love Most?
Lessons on love from St Paul
We’re often the worst version of ourselves to those we love most.
Do we mistake love for license?
Do we presume forgiveness?
I’m astonished and ashamed by the incivility and carelessness with how I sometimes speak to my wife in the heat of an intense argument.
I say things to her I’d never say to someone else.
Why?
St Paul wrote in his treatise on love in the Bible:
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable . . .
Elsewhere he wrote:
Love does no harm . . .
How much harm do we inflict on others — especially those we cherish most — when we fail to love as St Paul describes?
Loving this way requires a disciplined commitment.
It’s hard.
It’s beautiful.
It’s redemptive.
It’s worth it.
