The Opposite of Love

What is the opposite of love? Typically, our immediate answer is “hate.” But perhaps the answer may not be as obvious as it seems.

Love is an active emotion that requires our time and energy. Loving includes caring for someone, doing things for them, thinking of them, and feeling good about having them in our lives. But often, hating someone isn’t necessarily the opposite, but just another extreme.

The common saying is, “There is a thin line between love and hate.” Truth be told, people spend a lot of time and energy on hating each other. If there is someone out there that we hate, way may spend way too much time thinking about that person and how much we can’t stand having them in our lives.  And while we may not do things for them, we may think about what we can do to them.

So then, if not hatred, what is the opposite of love? Perhaps it is indifference.

If loving someone means allowing them to take up valuable real estate in your thoughts and emotions—couldn’t the opposite of that mean an absence of any thinking and feeling at all? Not apathy—the kind of indifference we often show toward strangers on the street. But true indifference to someone in our lives includes rejecting their presence, neglecting their needs, and treating them without care.

Yet, regardless of whether the opposite of love is hatred or callous indifference, neither is pleasing to God. Christ commanded us to “love one another” (John 13:34-35).
I Corinthians 13 gives us the Biblical definition of love, where we see the actions that are required of love.

Let’s love each other as our Father in heaven loves us.