Love and Consequences ...

Friday, March 22, 2019. Is love free of consequences? When you love someone, does that mean that you never react to his or her behaviour? The contrary should be true. The more you love someone, the more you care. The more you love, the more you will pay attention what he or she does.

Love by itself is consequence. Love means to be attentive. Love means to care. Love means that you a full of passion. You passion will not allow you to ignore what your loved one does, what he or she says. Consequences in our life, our actions, our words and behaviour come from our love.

Love …

But how to react? What consequences does love have? What do you do when love is turned down, or when it is not turned down completely, but your loved one treats you in a strange way, not consistently, not in a way you want to be treated?

In the biblical book of Nehemia we find the reaction of God to the behaviour of the people of Israel. The topic is how God reacts to the strange behaviour of the people, about consequences as well. The lines have made me think a lot, but read first:

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ (from Nehemia 1)

Consequences …

(Roland Potthast) ... further texts