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A woman told her counselor she wanted to get rid of her hateful husband, but before she divorced him she wanted to hurt him as much as he hurt her. The counselor said to her, “Go home and act as if you really loved him. Tell him how much he means to you; praise him for every decent trait. Make him believe you love him. After you have convinced him of your undying love, drop the bomb on him. Tell him you’re getting a divorce.” With revenge in her eyes, the woman said, “Yes! That’ll do it!” So for two months she did it with passion, acting as if she loved her husband. She was kind, forgiving, and patient. When she did not go back to the counselor, he called her. “Are you ready to divorce him?” “Divorce him? No way! I now realize I love that man!” Her positive actions changed her feelings. This illustrates a principle Paul wrote about to the Romans. After explaining how much God loves us, he tells us we ought to love Him back and love each other. We should show it by the way we act. He wrote in Romans 13: “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.” He said all the commandments are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So the love we show to family, friends, and people in need will often win them to Christ when our verbal witness may fall on deaf ears.
