Carol Vélez reflects on the theme of love – and how when we find ourselves surrounded by hate, we can choose love as a powerful force to fight back with justice and forgiveness.
We often talk about love. It is estimated that love is the primary theme of 60 to 75 per cent of popular mainstream songs, around 40 per cent of films and on average, 30 per cent of all published fiction.
Talking, writing or singing about love is one thing. However, love is an action. Amid today’s minefield of hate and hate speech, we can choose to love and to forgive.
Loving is more than a feeling; it is a collection of decisions made day after day. Loving is a daily decision. It is not just beautiful words we repeat when we feel emotional. To love is to unite, to build and to expand.
I believe we should ask ourselves every day: how can I love again? Today I choose to love; today I choose to fight with love despite distance, indifference and ignorance
Love is not blind; it sees clearly yet chooses to endure all things and to hope for all things. Love is intertwined with hope. We cannot deny cruelty and evil, but we can choose to fix our gaze on what is pure, on what or who we love, whether it be our culture, our partner or our need to belong and to be loved in return.
I believe we should ask ourselves every day: how can I love again? Today I choose to love; today I choose to fight with love despite distance, indifference and ignorance. Today, I choose to love myself gently, to love myself well so that I may love others better. Today, I choose to be vulnerable when necessary.
People often have their own definition of love. It could be said that love is something subjective, something that cannot truly be explained. But at the end of the day, there is no greater love than giving ourselves to others: a friend who sacrifices their time for you; a sibling who stops and listens to you in the middle of their busy schedule; a daughter who sits with you; a partner who makes time to connect amid the noise of a busy family, demanding work and everything life throws at us.
… love goes hand in hand with justice; it is fierce and consumes what ought not to remain. As individuals, in our daily lives, how can we challenge our perception of love? How might this lead us to change and renew our understanding?
Personally, the love I experience is renewed in Christ, the source and essence of love. Love that renews, covers a multitude of flaws, embraces, hopes beyond measure, heals and endures for all eternity. I feel that everything happening around the world today is a clear sign of humanity’s deep need for unity, truth and, for love.
But love goes hand in hand with justice; it is fierce and consumes what ought not to remain. As individuals, in our daily lives, how can we challenge our perception of love? How might this lead us to change and renew our understanding? We cannot settle.
We are reminded, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’ (Romans 12:2).
Let’s return to a foundation of love and reflect on the perfect love demonstrated on the Cross of Christ for us. Let 1 Corinthians 13 from the New Testament resonate within us as there is nothing greater than this love:
‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing’ (verses 1-3).
The only thing more powerful than hate is love.
Puerto Rican artist Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, well known as Bad Bunny, recently emphasised during his speech at the 2026 Grammy Awards and at Superbowl 2026 that ‘the only thing more powerful than hate is love’. His message went viral, among the Latin community and beyond, inspiring a collective call to fight negativity with kindness, to be united among disagreement, to see beyond ourselves, our land and to be bold about our beliefs.
‘Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone’ (Galatians 6:9-10, ESV).
TO EVERYONE.
Editor’s note: If you enjoyed this article, please let us know. If you have a favourite quote or song about love that resonates with you, we would love to hear it. Send us an email: atw@salvationarmy.org
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