This is a dark world, isn’t it?
There are so many things wrong with this world, after all. This is a world where cruelties and injustice are reality. Maybe it doesn’t strike you as very terrible, but if you were to stop and think of all the savagery fellow humans do to one another, I think you’d see it in a very different light. We rape, torture, murder, and abuse each other, all to satisfy ourselves in our own crooked ways. More often, we act out of selfishness than love.
It’s a dark world, wrought with fear, pain, trauma, and loss. If each one of us were to be 100% honest with ourselves, we would realize that we are hopelessly shattered, desperately broken, and that we can’t put ourselves together. In countless ways, we’ve turned this world into a hell because of our selfishness. It’s amazing the evil that fallen human beings are capable of.
Those of us who have never done the things I just listed are the lucky ones—only on account of good circumstances, of our being raised well, and being taught decency are we any better off than those committing such abhorrent crimes. Man is naturally prone to sin, and if our circumstances were any worse, we would no doubt be just as bad as others are. We’re still far from perfect.
We are in desperate need of a Savior.
I am blessed to know Him. He loved this shattered, broken world so much that He sent His Son to die for us, worthless, unlovable sinners who without Him could never have seen the Light. He loved us to the point of death, and He calls us to love those around us with the love that He has given us. Nothing else matters.
The answer to the problems in this world is love, starting with each one of us as individuals. I realize that may sound cliche, but I believe it to be true. We need to pass God’s love on to those around us. If we were all more kind and tender toward one another, treating each other as we would want to be treated, and remembering that we all as human beings are the same inside (we all look for love, affirmation, and meaning, after all)—this world would be a very different place. And what a wonderful place it would be!
Maybe you’re thinking that all that I’ve just written is quite naive and foolish. It’s much easier to say we need to love those around us than it is to put it into action, after all—like so many other things. And no one (myself included), can ever love perfectly.
But with God’s help, we can all try. We can remember His love for us—the love we didn’t deserve at all, that saved us from the darkness of this world and eternal damnation and brought us into His marvelous light. With that in mind, we can extend God’s love to those around us indiscriminately, even those we don’t especially like or even hate. Because who are we to deny His love to others, especially when He requires it? We didn’t deserve His love; He gave it to us freely, even when we still sinned and hated Him. So through Him, we ought to be able to love others—even those we consider enemies.
It’s a radical concept, loving one’s enemies; so much so, that only God could have come up with it. “To err is human, [and] to forgive is divine,” as Alexander Pope put it. It’s so much easier to say we should forgive those we hate than it is to actually do so. It’s just so hard. I’ve been fortunate enough to have met mostly goodhearted people throughout my life. I can’t say I’ve met very many people I had real reason to hate.
But Jesus did. They scourged, mocked, and nailed Him to a cross, never believing that He was the Savior they needed. And in spite of this, He forgave them willingly, and calls us to do the same for everyone who hurts us. We are to forgive them from the heart (Matthew 18:35).
This world is indeed dark. Thanks be to God, we have the Light. God’s love is the light that banishes all darkness. Let us shine it all around, fearlessly, and this world of darkness will become the most glorious heaven, to God’s glory.
Because that is what love does.