The other night, my wife and I were praying for our country. (Our country is Canada, but similar issues are present in other countries.) We prayed for a restoration of truth, justice, wisdom, morality, and faith in God. And then we prayed for a restoration of love.

That last word grabbed my attention.

It occurred to me that what is profoundly lacking in our country (and in other countries) right now is love.

Our political rhetoric, on all sides of the spectrum, is filled with discussions of rights and tolerance and policies and social justice and reform. But love is rarely mentioned. Indeed, as I listen to the rhetoric, it seems to be increasingly motivated by hatred of the other side rather than by love for other people.

When love is mentioned, it is reduced to “love of country” (too often a code for support for guns and the military) or freedom to choose who to love (often a code for sexual promiscuity).

But real love? Never mentioned. Never considered.

I’m talking about agape love. Biblical love. Self-sacrificing love. Love that leads to support for policies that benefit not just me and my family and people like me but that benefit the people in our country as a whole. Love of enemies, including political enemies, no matter how misguided they may be.

US President John Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” I will not get into a debate about how well he put that sentiment into practice. What disturbs me is that no one would even think to make such a statement today. We are so immersed in our political debates and culture wars that hardly anyone ever thinks to consider Jesus’ command to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Our rhetoric is full of hate and anger and bitterness and a sense of grievance.

We desperately need a restoration of truth, justice, wisdom, morality, and faith in God. But what we need even more right now is a restoration of love. As 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us, now matter what good we try to achieve, if it is not motivated by love, our words come across as “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (just noise), and we “gain nothing.” True love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast and is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. When all else fails, faith, hope, and love remain. But the greatest of these is love.