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“It is love who mixed the mortar
And it’s love who stacked these stones
And it’s love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we’re alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it’s love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love can show the way”
—David Wilcox, “Love Will Show the Way”
“The blood, the soil, the faith
These words you can’t forget
Your vow, your holy place
O love, aren’t you tired yet?”
—Leonard Cohen
“Love is not an idea for Paul, not even a ‘motivating factor’ for behavior. It is behavior. To love is to act; anything short of action is not love at all.”
—Gordon Fee, Commentary on 1 Corinthians
“When God sets out to embrace the enemy, the result is the cross. On the cross the dancing circle of self-giving and mutually indwelling divine persons opens up for the enemy; in the agony of the passion the movement stops for a brief moment and a fissure appears so that sinful humanity can join in. We, the others—we, the enemies—are embraced by the divine persons who love us with the same love with which they love each other and therefore make space within their own eternal embrace.”
—Miroslav Volf
“Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart, and the boast of my tongue.
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last
Has won my affections and bound my soul fast.”
— John Stocker, 1776
“What riches of kindness he lavished on us.
His blood was the payment, his life was the cost.
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford.
Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.”
— “His Mercy Is More,” Matt Papa and Matt Boswell
“Malice will never drive out malice. But if someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you will destroy his malice.”
— The Wisdom of the Desert, Thomas Merton
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
— Romans 12:21
“Because Jesus was the king who became a servant, we see a reversal of values in his kingdom administration (Luke 6:20–26). In Jesus’ kingdom, the poor, sorrowful, and persecuted are above the rich, recognized, and satisfied. The first shall be last (Matt 19:30). Why would this be? This reversal is a way of imitating the pattern of Christ’s salvation (Phil 2:1–11). Though Jesus was rich, he became poor. Though he was a king, he served. Though he was the greatest, he made himself the servant of all. He triumphed over sin not by taking up power but by serving sacrificially. He ‘won’ through losing everything. This is a complete reversal of the world’s way of thinking, which values power, recognition, wealth, and status. The gospel, then, creates a new kind of servant community, with people who live out an entirely alternate way of being human.”
— Tim Keller
“Six days shall you labor
The seventh is the Lord’s
In six He made the earth and all the heavens
But He rested on the seventh
God rested
He said that it was finished
In the seventh day, He blessed it
God rested”
— Andrew Peterson, “God Rested”