When most of what we read and see is governed by some soulless algorithm built to anger us or sell us something—it’s hard to know if joy is real, if love is kind, if gentle words are really meant to bless. 

And yet joy lingers, gentleness persists, and tens of millions of times a day, someone whispers “I love you” to a child, a spouse, a friend, a former enemy.   

This is true for both those who do not own the name of Jesus and for those who celebrate His power and love:  “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). 

The tenderness we witness, the patient words we find when stressed, the arms with which we wrap the hurting and the sinful—these are the remnants of the love once given at Creation and now given us preeminently in Jesus: “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:9-10).

Resist the anger amped by code. Love with the grace by which you are forever loved. 

And stay in it. -Bill Knott