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Always Love People — Even if You Disagree With Them
Love and agreement are not the same
I strive to love everyone. And I mean that.
Anyone who knows me will generally say that’s the case, even though (like any other human being on planet Earth) I’m not perfect.
But love doesn’t necessarily mean affirming someone’s beliefs or behavior. Nor does it mean always making them feel good.
Real love wants what’s best for the other person. And it makes room for disagreement and difficult conversations.
Love must also make room for pushing back against ideas, actions, behaviors, or ideologies that you may see as harmful or destructive.
As long as you can do so with humility and in the true spirit of love, then such pushback should be considered part of love, whether we’re talking about relational love, neighborly love, or communal love.
Let me pause here to define our terms.
I believe the medieval theologian and philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, had the best definition of love. His definition came down to…
To love is to will the good of the other.
It’s fair to define hate similarly.
To hate is to will the bad of…
