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“If that’s how she treats the people she loves, I hate to think how she treats her enemies.”
Have you ever had someone profess their love for you, but act in ways that made it seem — well, doubtful?
In Saturnalia, written by Macrobius Theodosius, Caesar Augustus quips, “It is better to be Herod’s pig than son!” To understand this joke, it helps to know how Herod the Great treated his family members. For example, he professed his undying love for one of his wives, Mariamne, but later he had her executed. Also, he killed three of his own sons, after accusing them of plotting against him. Since Herod was Jewish, Augustus knew that he wouldn’t kill and eat a pig, so, the pig was safer than Herod’s sons!
Just because someone says, “I love you,” doesn’t mean they actually do. Or, if they do love you when they say it, there’s no guarantee that their love will last. It would be nice if we had some way to measure love — a love meter, so to speak.
Well, of course, there are ways to measure love, and I’m going to tell you about one of them now. The Apostle Paul measured love this way: “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.” (I Thessalonians 1:8, NIV)