Uncommon Commentary #445: Love and Like Are Unalike

One often hears people say such things as “I like this one, but I love that one”; “love”, however, is not the superlative of “like”.  To like somebody merely means to get along with him, to enjoy his company; to love somebody is to care about that person, and so it’s quite possible to like someone without loving him and to love him without liking him.  The importance of this distinction is more than academic.  Another thing that one will hear people say, as a way of justifying themselves to those who try to save them from the consequences of their sins, is “God loves me just the way I am”.  He does love you just the way you are, but that doesn’t mean that He approves of what you are.  Being Christian doesn’t mean that you have to like people, but it means that you have to love them.