Life without love is futile and miserable (1 Cor 13:13, NCV). “All is vanity but to love God and serve Him” (Thomas a Kempis). Lovelessness is unhealthy (1 Jn 3:14). “A man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God” (C. S. Lewis). We must choose to love God and each human being. As Augustine said, it is by loving our neighbor that we obey the command to love Him (1 Jn 4:20). We let His agape love reach out to others through us (1 Jn 4:19). Since this love “is disinterested love… agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). Love is not prejudiced (Prov 28:21, TEV).
So how do we show love for others? We surrender ourselves to Him and, by yielding to His control, have His Spirit develop God’s love in us (Gal 5:22). We ask God to make us more loving (Jas 4:2). We act as though we love another. Many wait to feel love before they act in a loving way. In part, this is why so many marriages are unhappy. If we treat each other in loving ways first, acting as if we love the other, our feelings will eventually follow. As C. S. Lewis noted, “When you are behaving as if you love someone, you will presently come to love him.”
It was prejudice that allowed the money changers to be in the Temple at the court of the Gentiles because the leaders didn’t think it was important for the Gentiles to have a place to worship Yahweh (Mt 21:12-13). Similarly, Peter gave in to the prejudice of the Judaizers by no longer associating with the ‘unclean’ Gentiles at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14). Prejudice is wrong. Prejudice should not be a factor in how we treat others.
Instead of being timid, learn to be appropriately bold.