Only by love is love awakened. (Desire of Ages p.22)
What is more true than this proposition? What else can awaken love besides love itself? Love, by definition, cannot be forced. We have a word for this in English—rape (stemming from the Latin word rapiō, meaning to "seize by force"). But love must be a free act of the will, sparked by a man's desire for the best good of another man. In the Bible, Christ instructs us to "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." (Matt 5:44). While hate is the fuel for hate, love, indeed, is the fuel for love. Were we to abhor our enemies, we should only expect abhorrence in return, for it only would give them greater reason to hate us. But how forced and contrary to one's conscience it is to hate a man who has only acted in love.
There are two ways to conquer an enemy: (1) to destroy him, and (2) to make him your friend. It is God's great desire and task to use the second method by showing illimitable and self-sacrificing love. He gave His enemies no more than He could give; He gave them Himself—crucified on the Cross for them. Let us all be awakened by this greatest act of love the world has ever seen! Surely, "greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13). "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:7-8)
