Love, hate, and anger

James 2:18 (NASB95)

18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Expand this for a moment. My works make evident my faith. If I believe that “Jesus is the son of God” my works are going to reflect that belief. Am I doing the works that Jesus did, and greater works than these because He returned to the Father?

This is true, not only in the long arc of my lives, but also in the moment-by-moment reactions and responses to the world around me.

One of the things that regularly get said to new Christians is that love is not just an emotion, it is actions. I may have loving emotions, but I cannot show them without works. Or, in other words, love shows itself to others in loving actions. Love , unlike faith, is also expressed in words. it may be expressed in words like, “I love you.” But it may also be expressed in words of encouragement or words of gratitude. Those words may be without any open emotional content, as may be the actions of love.

So, love, to be love, must be expressed by “word or deed.” But the words or deeds, loving as they are, do not need emotions attached to them in order to be loving. I can believe God, and do the loving deed He asks of me, without any emotion of love, and He will reckon that belief to us as righteousness, I have followed James’s example, showing my faith through my works.

Now, I am going to extend this further. If the only way that I can show my love is through loving words and actions. what about hate, anger, fear, or guilt? I can have those emotions and not show them. And no one may know that I have them. How about if I do show them? Is not anger shown through angry words? Does not hate show itself through hateful actions I may speak my angry words without a trace of anger in them, or in my heart, at that moment. Angry words that get rehearsed in an angry mood and released in a calm one are still angry words.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” is a common saying in the world. After the emotion of anger or hate or fear is gone, they can still drive the plotting of revenge.

Therefore, anger, hate, or fear can be shown by their deeds, and by their words. There may emotions attached at the moment the deeds or words happen, or there may not.

Or, flipped around, if there are loving actions without the emotion of love, there are also hateful or angry actions (or words) without the emotions of hate or anger. Others can say of me that I hate someone because I show my hate by my hateful words or deeds.

My works reflect my faith. They reflect what I believe in, either in the long arc of my life or in the moment-by moment reaction or response. But something else is true. I react to the world around me, much like all animals do. But I can reflect on my reaction, the emotions triggered by whatever has happened, and what I have done with those emotions.

I may then respond with loving actions and words, despite what has happened to me. I may even need to apologize. I am forbidden by Jesus to take vengeance, and to hate my enemies. I have the ability to reflect and respond. I have that freedom.

Now, animals can only react to the world around them. Their “faith” is simple and direct. Their “emotional” state is what one sees at any given moment. They do not plan revenge. Nor do they plan loving acts. They simply are.

Animals react. Humans may react. Or we may reflect and respond. To apologize is evidence of being human.