What's the Opposite of Love?

What you pay attention to is what you love (or hate). What you don't care about is a window into your true self.

What do you think is the opposite of love?

The easy answer is hate, but that isn’t even close.

Because hate takes attention and focus and (usually) preoccupation with the object of your hate.

And the truth is love takes the same.

To love something or someone takes attention, focus, and even preoccupation with the object of your love. You remember the first time you “fell” in love (by the way, I really dislike that phrase “fell in love” as if it were beyond my control or some spell was put on me!), all you wanted to do was be around the person you loved. There has never been a big brother or big sister who doesn’t remember the aggravating little brother or sister who always wanted to follow them around.

They loved their bigger sibling, and they wanted to do everything they did.

No, the opposite of love isn’t hate. These two emotions are too similar to be opposites.

The opposite of love is indifference.

However, there are consequences to this dismissive indifference, especially when this thoughtlessness involves our relationship with God.

Look at our Epistle lesson this morning in Romans 1:28-32; 2:1-9:

Brethren, since the ungodly did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them. Therefore you have no excuse, O man, whoever you are, when you judge another; for in passing judgment upon him you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. For he will render to every man according to his works; to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are factious and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.

What is true of a society that forgets God is also true of a person who forgets God. Every time you forget God in your life, you head toward darkness and self-centered living. So, the remedy for this sad and dangerous pattern of behavior is to do those things that help you remember God.

Notice Paul says, “God gave them up to a base mind…” (Romans 1:28). God isn’t interested in robots or slaves.

He calls us not merely to obey Him or fear Him.

No, He invites us to a much deeper and more involved choice of entering into a loving relationship with Him. And this is because He knows that all the other motivations of acknowledging God are always too weak to last a lifetime.

Only love is strong enough to effect the essential transformation of my heart to a proper and fitting companion for God forever. Love enables endurance. Love creates the deep intimacy with God that allows me to know Him and to be changed by Him. Love drives me to push through the hard times without losing my hope. Love does last forever IF I stay attentive to Christ.

And only the committed rehearsal regularly of God’s “riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience” will lead you to the hard work of repentance to fight the tug of indifference toward the Spirit-Filled life of a faithful Christian.

This first Thursday after Pentecost, we must remain focused on the consequences of the Holy Spirit's descent. The Church gives us this season to reorient our lives and reacquaint us with the power and purpose of the Holy Spirit, not in theory, but in daily living. One of the most significant points of change in my conversion to Orthodoxy was the very real and consequential daily practice of recognizing the Holy Spirit active in my everyday life. He truly is the Comforter and the One called alongside to Help! His necessary ministry in my daily life encourages, empowers, and gently corrects me to stay focused on Christ. His loving ministry to me and the Church is about instilling a consistent love in my heart for God and my neighbor. Pentecost is indispensable to me, and to you, IF you are attentive to the Spirit’s purpose.

Today, what are the disciplines in your life that allow you to remember God moment by moment? Is your life indifferent to God and His Church? Thankfully, you don’t have to depend on your imagination for these spiritual tools that lead to love. Centuries of wisdom, insight, and Spirit-inspired direction are immediately available to you right now through the wise pattern of worship and prayers in the Church, all meant to make you a Normal Orthodox Christian!

P.S. Blessed are You, O Christ our God, who made fishermen all-wise, sending upon them the Holy Spirit and, through them, netting the world. O Loving One, glory to You.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouraged

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