What is Stronger, Love or Hate?

What is stronger, love or hate, good or evil, right or wrong?

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm:

For love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave:

The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it:

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. 

Love is strong as death, said the bride to her groom in Song of Solomon 8.1

One day my wife and I were leaving the Dallas area. We figured that it wouldn’t take long to get away on the freeway if we left early on a weekend when the traffic would be light. Once we got close to the downtown area, we noticed that the traffic started slowing and getting packed. Not much further it slowed to a trickle, then to a stop. Then we could only move slowly in intermittent episodes.

Soon, we were all being directed into one lane on the right, then into an off ramp. We wondered what was happening. Why were we being redirected? There were people standing on the edge of the highway with cameras aimed to our left.

As we trudged down the access road on the right of the freeway, suddenly, across the freeway, to our left, we saw a building being engulfed in the smoke of dust! A demolition crew had imploded the many storied building with explosives. When the dust soon cleared, there was suddenly no building there. It had disappeared into a pile of rubble. In only a matter of seconds, the old high-rise was destroyed.

 

I used to do quite a bit of construction work. One thing I noticed was that when building constructively, it takes a lot of planning, measuring, and time to lay a foundation and erect a quality structure.

Not so much when tearing down. That goes pretty quickly. With sledge hammer and crowbar, a few good men can take some walls or even a building down in just a short time.

Thus; I ask the question, what is stronger, love or hate, good or evil? It seems, sometimes, that the work of the destroyer is so easy, that he is hard to overcome.

A mom and a dad spend countless hours sitting up with their growing child, expending immense energy. They sink tremendous amounts of time and money into their little investment. They dote upon, discipline and dress their beloved one. They transport and travel many miles for the young man or woman. With pride and joy, they watch him grow up, contributing every step of the way. They devote great effort to provide for their child’s best possible education.

One bullet, fired from a distant chamber, one malicious act, one evil deed can tear down a life in one day after years of nourishment.

One thoughtless word can destroy a person’s reputation that took a lifetime to build up.

One illicit affair can bring down, in a moment, a marriage that was previously built upon years of love and trust.

One Trojan horse can bring a covert enemy into a city where it took its people a great deal of time to construct a wall of protection.

So, it may appear that the power of destruction is greater than the power of production. It may appear that the power of death finally wins over that of life, that evil will win over good and that hate will ultimately conquer love.

The law of the Old Testament had said: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The concept was to destroy the destroyer. Makes sense. That way the evil action is punished and the evil one is stopped. And this is what government has to do to deter wickedness.

But evil often has a way of being incorrigible and its influence is almost without boundaries. If one wicked one is stopped, there seems to be five more who step up in his place.

Enter – Jesus Christ. “For God so loved…”

Jesus said; "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” Matthew 5.43-44.

Did Jesus live up to what he taught? Think about this. When Jesus was being betrayed by his own disciple, Judas, in the garden of Gethsemane, he had the opportunity to retaliate. Peter had started the process for him by lopping off a man’s ear with a sword.

But Jesus said: "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26.52)

Why? Love is why. Jesus could have come down from the cross if he had so willed. He could have easily called 80,000 angels to overcome not only the Sanhedrin and their soldiers but all of the Roman troops that were occupying Israel at the time.

Yes, Jesus did live up to what he taught. In fact, he is the only one who has ever fully lived up to it. Even with our noblest effort, we all come short.

How are you and I to deal with haters? We are to love them. The bible says; “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12.21) “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.” (Proverbs 10.12)

Hatred hardens, but love softens. Whereas love will make one better and make one’s life better; hatred destroys not just the hated one but the hater. Hatred will eat a person away like cancer of the soul.

In the end, we know love will win, because God is love. Though Satan has inflicted his evil acts of hate upon those who know God, he will not ultimately conquer. Though it might appear that he has overcome in this world – no, he will be overcome. (Revelation 20.10)

God, the most powerful person in the universe is in essence, love, the most powerful force in the universe. Through his love, hate will be defeated.