The opposite of love is hate, right? Philip Keller thinks not. “The opposite of love is not hate but indifference,” he says. That statement has been bouncing around in my head for a few days and the more I think about it, the more I believe it is correct. Love is commitment. If I love someone I’m committed to them. If I’m indifferent to someone, if I have no commitment to them, I have no love for them. The opposite of love is indifference.
Transfer that thought to Christ’s love for me as an individual. Have you ever thought about Christ’s love for you on an individual level as being a deep commitment? How committed was Christ? committed enough to sufffer an agonizing death and the tremendous blow of God’s judgment against my sin. We hear a lot about our commitment to Christ, but what about Christ’s commitment to us?
Paul expressed that commitment in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; I no longer live, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In looking up that verse in the commentaries I notice that the bulk of the emphasis is place on the first half of the verse. It’s hard to find sermons or comments on that amazing last phrase, “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul is talking there about this matter of Christ’s commitment to me. “God so loved the world” is a wonderful truth, but “he loved me and gave Himself for me” is astonishing.
Let me close with a quotation from Joni Eareckson Tada. Writing on the subject of “faith,” she says:
“Faith has little do with commitment of allegiance. When we place our faith in Christ, we are not so much taking a stand for Him as we are acknowledging the stand He takes for us…. Faith means being sure of Christ’s commitment to you, rather than your commitment to Him. Faith is having confidence in His love for you rather than your love for Him.” –Joni Eareckson Tada in Diamonds in the Dust.
