John 13:34 – Love and suffering

Elder Bruce C. Hafen
Elder Bruce C. Hafen

Christ’s love is so deep that He took upon Himself the sins and afflictions of all mankind. Only in that way could He both pay for our sins and empathize with us enough to truly succor us—that is, run to us—with so much empathy that we can have complete confidence that He fully understands our sorrows. So, to love as Christ loves means we will somehow taste suffering ourselves—for the love and the affliction are but two sides of the same coin. Only by experiencing both sides so some degree can we begin to understand and love other people with a depth that even begin to approach Christ’s love. (Bruce C. Hafen, Spiritually Anchored in Unsettled Times, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009), 30).