I've learnt a thing or two about love in my young years. Mainly that love is not soppy, nor sentimental, not sweet or sickly or nice. Love is a force to be reckoned with, it does not sit back and watch and it promises a fullness of life. Christian Aid is rooted in the Christian gospel and if we believe that Jesus is the most perfect representation of love then the cross is the most loving act in history, setting in motion a powerful and life-changing chain of love.
Love sees others. The Bible tells us that we cannot say we love God but hate those around us - and some scholars have argued that the hate referred to in the New Testament of the Bible isn't rage or bitter hatred, but merely low-level contempt or indifference, working from the Greek root which means 'loveless'. This is an interesting idea because there are many people we neither dearly love not actively hate - just many whose concerns are not ours - whom we simply do not see. But if we say we love God then we can no longer turn away from these people and we are challenged to see them as God does. And once we do, we won't be able to hold back from outrageous, active, powerful love. Love that acts, love that moves, love that can change the world.
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