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The Opposite of Love

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."¹

I once asked a class I was teaching, "What would you say was the Christian's number one sin?" to which a jokester replied, "Apathy, but who cares?" And as the old saying goes, "Many a true word spoken in jest."

"In the book The Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis, a devil briefs his demon nephew, Wormwood, in a series of letters on the subtleties and techniques of tempting people. In his writings, the devil says that the objective is not to make people wicked but to make them indifferent. This higher devil cautions Wormwood that he must keep the patient comfortable at all costs. If he should start thinking about anything of importance, encourage him to think about his luncheon plans and not to worry so much because it could cause indigestion. And then the devil gives this instruction to his nephew: 'I, the devil, will always see to it that there are bad people. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with people who do not care.'"²

The opposite of love is not hate. It's apathy or indifference that is practiced by people who don't care enough to care. The fact is that "people don't care what we know until they know how much we care."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a loving heart so that I will truly care about others and care enough to share the love of Jesus in some way with all those you bring into my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. John 4:12 (NIV).
2. From http://www.sermonillustrations.com/quoted by Dan Vellinga, "What Would You Do?" (sermon).

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