For love is exultant when it unites equals, but it is triumphant when it makes that which was unequal equal in love. ~Soren Kierkegaard
Have you ever been traveling and run into someone from the same state or same area as you? At some point, in getting to know someone new, you might find that you share a mutual friend, school, or hobby. Or maybe you have walked into a new room and feel a sigh of relief when you spot someone that you know. There is almost this instant connection and a moment of delight when we engage with someone who shares something that we do. We feel safe, understood, and familiar. It is comforting and we feel safe with folks that we know. This feeling is good and we celebrate how love can unite us so quickly.
But it is the love that is shared by those that are different than us that is much more triumphant and transformational. What Kierkegaard celebrates in this quote is unequal love, or love where the two parties might be different or in equal places of life. To love someone that is different than you is an amazing power that God calls us to live into. We live in a culture and moreover a political culture where different opinions are demonized and viewed as almost unlovable. We often move away from people who we think don’t share our values or opinions when instead God calls us through the power of love to transcend our differences. When we can love someone who is unequal to us, we are loving as God loves us. How can we love others who are different than us?
Prayer
God of Love, our world is vast and diverse. We all have opinions about how to live and the choices that we are called to make. And, yet often we don’t try to love one another with your love. Help us to live into your triumphant love and seek to care about the other despite our differences. In gratitude, Amen.
We are to love our God with all our hearts and minds. We love Jesus for His gift of Salvation and for who He is. We love one another in Christian love as the Bible directs us to. God made Adam and Eve to love Him and each other to form the family and Civilization. The Bible gives specific directions on how we are to love but also who we are not to love. Homosexual love is an abomination to God. It goes against His perfect design of male and female who He created for one another. Love without truth isn’t love. In today’s culture we see the delusions of love and the lost people who have embraced sin and its consequence. To be a Christian is to follow Jesus and the Bible which is the standard for living in this world.