REFLECTION POINT: 'A 365-day Journey'
DAY 34
"If I can speak in the tongues of men and even of angels, but have not LOVE, I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge; and if I have sufficient faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not God's LOVE in me, I AM NOTHING. Even if I dole out all that I have to the poor in providing food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not God's LOVE in me, I GAIN NOTHING."
1st Cor. 13:1-3 (Amplified Bible)
"The good deed and the evil deed are not equal. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo, he, between whom and thee there was enmity will become as though he was a bosom friend."
Al-Quran 41: 34
"None of you has faith until he loves for his brother or his neighbor what he loves for himself."
Sahih Bukhari 13 (Hadith)
"You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace between yourselves."
Sahih Muslim 54 (Hadith)
Allah the Exalted said: "Those who love each other for the sake of My glory will be upon pulpits of light and they will be envied by the prophets and the martyrs."
Sunan At-Tirmidhi 2390 (Hadith)
Virtually all the religions in the world, one way or the other, emphasises the GOLDEN RULE: "Do to others as you would they do to you." The golden rule is but a summary of LOVE.
A friend of mine once said, "Love is the discovery of oneself in another person." If only love would prevail as much as corruption does in our world of today, no doubt, the world would know PEACE. When we accept people as they are and try to understand why they act the way they do, only then can we begin to appreciate the diversity of the human nature. We must constantly call to mind that no one is perfect. Jodi Picoult understood this when she said, "You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not."
When we learn to radiate love for the sake of love, irrespective of the attitudes of others, we unconsciously spread tranquility even across our supposed enemies. In the words of Martin Luther King (Jnr.): "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." One must, therefore, be careful not to allow the actions and inactions of others negatively affect one's good demeanour.
"If we do good just because we fear God and expect reward from Him, then we are as good as bad," Albert Einstein warned. Our ability to love others and be good to them must not be a function of their deeds. We must love because we have the nature of God in us; and God is LOVE. May we be granted the grace to share love just for Love's sake. Amen. I leave you with this beautiful prayer said by Rabindranath Tagore: "Lord, let me carry Thy LOVE in my life as a harp does its music and give it back to Thee at last with my life."
For a mind that knows is a mind that is truly free!
©Paul E. A. Moses
Perfect Imperfections
Since this was not posted on steem i decided to help a friend broadcast this here maybe we can change the world by spreading love.