The Sonnett by that title was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1850. It’s a beautiful but mushy love poem that has probably appeared on more than a few Valentine’s Day cards. The real answer to the question is sometimes, “I have no idea.” Let’s face it, loving people can be complicated. We can try to avoid loving people but that doesn’t fulfil the Great Commandment. We can just do what anybody wants us to do to keep them happy but that is not always the most loving thing to do. Dr. Victor Matthews taught that loving well means 1) We should treat all people with respect—as humans. 2) We should give them their rightful place in our lives and 3) We should do the right thing for them. Numbers 1 and 2 are not that difficult to discern even though they may be hard to do. However, number 3 can be really hard to figure out. I have often prayed Paul’s prayer from Philippians 1 for myself in this way, “And this is my prayer: that my love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that I may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ…” We need knowledge and depth of insight so we can discern what is best. Of course, developing a disposition of love, or, as we have said before, becoming a person of love, goes a long way in helping us answer how to love people well. The more we practice love, the better our discernment will be when loving well is confusing or very difficult. Paul was teaching the Corinthians how to apply the New Commandment of Christ to their gnarly problems. We’ll learn more about that on Sunday. “Let us love one another.”