Is indifference the opposite of love?

There is a well-known phrase that says “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference” (Elie Wiesel). Today we will talk about this and see what the Bible says about love. And for that we will start with some verses that define what love is:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not mistreat, it does not seek its own interests, it is not easily angered, it does not hold grudges. Love does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:8

Jesus answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:37-39

But God demonstrates his love for us: Christ died on our behalf while we were still sinners.

Romans 5:8

God is love and He is not indifferent

In 1 John 4:8 we receive a clear exhortation that our Lord is love itself, so whoever does not love, therefore does not know Him. With this in mind, I want to ask you: do you consider our God indifferent to mankind? Certainly not, for He loves us so much that even though we are sinners His only begotten son died on our behalf, to free us from the bonds of sin and eternal damnation.

Furthermore, the Father wants to be present in our lives. He left his Word as a letter to his beloved children and speaks to us every day through it. As it is written in John 14, He also left us the Holy Spirit to be with us, comforting us, helping us and revealing His will for us. In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about God’s kind character in answering our prayers when we ask, like a parent answering a child’s request for food.

So love is definitely not indifferent.

Indifference is like not caring

When we searched for the definition of indifference we found: lack of interest; the quality of not caring about or being interested in something or someone. Being indifferent is very linked to not caring about the pain or needs of others.

The Bible itself directly relates love to action, to compassion, that is, to caring. In 1 John 3:17-18, it is written: “If anyone has material resources and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in deed and in truth.

To love in word is much easier than to love in deed. When we love in deed we choose to walk beside the other, which can be difficult, when we live in a individualistic world. But we, as the light of the world and the salt of this earth, cannot conform to the standards of society, but to the standard proposed by the Word. We need to love our neighbor as ourselves and if this biblical love is a reality in our lives, we will never be indifferent to the pain of others, be it emotional, physical or financial.

Conclusion

Thinking about the meanings of words, indifference is not necessarily the opposite of love. The Bible uses the word hate to oppose the word love. For example, in Hebrews 1:9 it is written: “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above…”

But we can conclude that one thing is a fact: the one who loves IS NOT indifferent, but cares.

You can be used as a tool in someone’s life to make a difference and if you have ever had the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, you know the joy and reassurance it brings to the heart and how it makes our God happy. May we be willing to listen to the other, to care for those around us.

God bless you!

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