February 6th, 2023 Monday Motivator

We are in the month of love! 

Valentine’s day is two weeks away, and candy shape hearts and chocolates surround us as we shop.

Many of us are thinking of special ways to shower our love on those around us. And for others, Valentine’s day is a reminder of loss, resentment, and the opposite of love.

So, what is the opposite of love?

Immediately we think, “well, hatred” – this is a great answer, but hatred is only a fruit of a much deeper issue.

I believe the opposite of love is hostility!

Hostility is the feeling of having enemies. Hostility is built on betrayal, selfishness, and division and always brings destruction.

It starts as an emotion: feelings of unfriendliness, enmity, ill will, and antagonism.

Then it becomes an expression. We are actionable in unfriendliness, antagonism, warfare, acts of war, and ill will.

And lastly, after an expression, it becomes an experience. We build barriers and walls to keep people out.

Ephesians 2:14-16 tell us how Jesus breaks down the walls of hostility through the cross. 

What if those who have experienced God’s love help break down barriers by sharing this transformation?

Let’s take advantage of February being the month of love by expressing God’s love to everyone. 

But I challenge you not to let it stop there!

Let’s make this an everyday practice!

Ephesians 2:14-16, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”