I plan to preach on 1 Corinthians 13 this Sunday. Love is not easy, love is hard. But love is worthwhile. Indeed love is really the only viable option because, as King knew, “hate is too great a burden to bear.” The more complete quote can be found below. (The emphasis is mine.)

“I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens’ Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love. And the beautiful thing is that we aren’t moving wrong when we do it, because John was right, God is love. He who hates does not know God, but he who loves has the key that unlocks the door to the meaning of ultimate reality.” — Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. [1]

I urge us all to “stick with love,” it’s hard, difficult work, but “hate is too great a burden to bear.”

[1] Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?,” in The Radical King (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2016), 175-176.