Feed My Sheep
By
Harold R. Gielow
2003 Copyright by H. Gielow
All quotations of Bible Texts are from the King James Version
except as noted.
Mr. Gielow retired from the United
States Marine Corps after twenty two years of service. A graduate of
Prologue
Simon sat adrift in thought and
remorse so intense that all else was drowned in its depths. Even the nearby chatter of Thomas, Nathaniel
and the others was dull and remote, as if coming from the distant shore mixed with
the sounds of the wind and waves. Each
wave that lifted the old weather beaten boat towards the heavens brought a
flood of joyous memories, only to recede as the boat sank ignominiously back
towards earth and Simon, with it, back into the trough of despair. “How could I have denied him after all that I
witnessed?” Simon thought, as a groan involuntarily escaped his lips. “Did I not tell him that I was a sinful man?
Why did he trust me? Why didn’t he just
leave me where He found me instead of showing me the wonders of the possible
through trusting him, only to leave me alone?”
The similarity of the present
situation with Simon’s first meeting with Jesus brought into sharp focus that
first miraculous encounter. Now, like
then, he had fished all night, using all the skills and knowledge acquired
through years of fishing the sea, with not one catch to show for the calluses
on his hands or his aching back. Jesus
had been preaching to the crowd on the shore while Simon was washing the nets
after the fruitless night of fishing. He
had stepped into Simon’s boat and asked to be taken out a little way from the
shore, for the crowd was pressing Him.
“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon remembered his words as if it were
yesterday. His blistered hands and tired
muscles from last night’s fishing reminded him, as well, of his response on
that first morning with the Lord, but he had done as Jesus said. Simon recalled his joy and amazement with the
miracle that followed, and then, as the boat slid into another trough, recalled
a feeling more in tune with his present state.
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Oh Lord.” “His eyes pierced into my very soul,” Simon
recalled.
Simon’s mind raced forward as the boat
creaked and moaned and began to rise on the next wave. “What glory we beheld as he was transfigured
before us,” Simon thought, his heart nearly bursting with the remembered joy of
that sacred moment, and then nearly rending in two as he also recalled seeing
himself in the light of the holiness of God.
The boat slid into another trough as Simon played back the scene, for
the thousandth time, of his denial of the Lord.
A gentle breeze began to blow, drying the tears on Simon’s face, as he
lifted his eyes and looked towards the shore.
Someone was standing there, their form barely visible as the dawn was
just now breaking, the sun rising on the shore’s eastern horizon and casting
its glow on the now shimmering waters.
The man called out to them, his voice drifting across the waves in the
stillness of the morning, “Children, you do not have any fish do you?” “No!” Thomas blurted out, kicking the empty
net as if to emphasize his point. Simon,
still lost in his grief, barely noticed the exchange. “Cast the net on the right hand side of the
boat and you will find a catch.” Simon
looked at John, his heart beginning to race, and saw in John’s eyes the same
question that his own heart was screaming.
“Could it be?” Hurriedly, he
picked up the net with the others and cast it upon the waters, leaning this way
and that as it sank, peering intently and hoping expectantly. It seemed like forever as Simon waited for
the net to sink, as if eternity hung in the balance and this cast was his last
hope. “Pull it in! Pull it in!” Simon cried, and as they grabbed
the ropes and pulled, they went taut with the familiar feel of a great number
of fish. “It is the Lord,” cried John, and Simon, no sooner had these words left
John’s mouth, was in the water furiously swimming towards the Lord.
The others followed, dragging the net
full of fish behind them and, when they arrived at the shore, found a charcoal
fire prepared with fish placed upon it and bread. Simon looked at the fire and then on his
Lord. It was around just such a fire
that he had denied him. Jesus said,
“Bring me some of the fish which you have now caught.” Simon went over to the net and drew it in to
the shore. Afterwards, Jesus broke bread
with them. Simon recalled his boastful
statement at that last supper before his denial and his lord’s crucifixion;
“Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” As he was recalling his boast, as if reading
his thoughts, Jesus spoke to him.
“Simon, son of John, do you love me with a Godly love more than
these?” Simon’s heart was pierced recalling
his boast, his denial, and his failed attempt to follow the Lord in his own
strength as Simon, son of flesh and blood, not Peter, the rock, born of the
Spirit. “Yes Lord, you know that I have
a warm, longing love for you.” Simon
looked down at the ground. He had not
yet looked into the eyes of the Lord.
“Perhaps he will think that I misunderstood him,” Simon reasoned. Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Looking on him intently, Jesus then asked
him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me with a godly love?”
Again
Simon’s heart was pierced because he asked him, not if he loved him more than
the others loved him, but only did he love him.
More humbly, Simon replied, “Yes Lord, You know that I have a warm
longing love for you.” Jesus said,
“Shepherd my sheep.” Then Simon looked
into the eyes of his Savior and heard him speak yet again. “Simon, son of John, do you have a warm, longing love for me?” With this, Simon’s heart became completely
broken, and he cried out, as in a cry for help, “Lord, you know all
things. You know that I love you with a
warm, longing love.” Jesus said, “Feed
my little sheep.”
The Search for
Significance
Man spends his entire life in search
of significance. He seeks affirmation
from family, friends, and even from his own conscience. He seeks it through achievement at work, by
the acquisition of wealth, and in countless other avenues.
In spite of the Christian’s assurance
of God’s proven love for his creatures in that, ‘…while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us,’ man still seeks assurance of acceptance, love and
value. Each of us, if we have accepted
Christ’s sacrifice for us, is endowed by our creator with a limitless potential
for good, for we are filled with the very spirit of the living God. Yet this potential will never be realized
until it is offered in the spirit of God, fully to his service, and in a spirit
of self-sacrificial love. We will never
truly find our significance until we loose ourselves in God’s love.
Man’s search for significance and
purpose has led him, both individually and collectively, into a wide variety of
pursuits. No one book of the Bible more
expressively details our various endeavors in this area than Ecclesiastes, a
book concerned with the purpose and value of human life. After exploring the pursuits of man in
pleasure, great works, riches, wisdom, and mirth, the author concludes that
they are all mere ‘vanity and vexation of spirit’.
King Solomon is believed to have been
the author of Ecclesiastes, of whom it was testified, “There was none like thee
before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” He was the recipient of the divine gifts of
wisdom and understanding (I Kings
For Epictetus,
a great philosopher and teacher at
Our own Founding Fathers, drawing
heavily on both Greek philosophy and the Roman law tradition with its emphasis
on a body of free and independent individuals within a unitary state, developed
a religiously grounded faith in the individuals right of self determination of
ethical action. We see this codified in the Declaration of Independence as the
‘unalienable right’ to the pursuit of happiness. The purpose of government was to secure the
‘natural rights’ of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
It is one thing to declare that each
individual has an unalienable right to happiness, but it is quite another to
declare how one can achieve this state.
With no more guide than the declaration that happiness is our birthright,
natural man looks to the physical world for its fulfillment. His yearning for happiness is transformed by
his rational pursuit to fill the void created by its absence, if not
restrained, to his unlimited quest for self worth through achievement and
recognition, and for security by means that afford him power or influence over
others – through wealth, force, and knowledge.
These egoistic and self-gratifying
ends are somewhat modified, constrained, and transformed into more limited ends
by our interactions and activities as part of a family, community, state, and
ultimately global community. The
transformation wrought by these influences alone, however, cannot lead to a
basic change in the end sought – the pleasing of self.[1]
The Bits and Bridles
of Desire
A world of competing desires fueled by
self interest over which no universally recognized, legitimate authority exists
with the ability to enforce a normative standard is a chaotic world where might
makes right. The constraining influence
of social structures was the Hobbesian justification
for a powerful state as a check on the passions of man which, if left
unbridled, would lead to a perpetual state of chaos and war.
John Lock and other political
philosophers of the Enlightenment era argued that such a powerful state was unnecessary
as men would realize their “natural identity of interests,” or that one could
best achieve one’s desires in a social context by allowing for the desires of
others to be met as well.
Competition for scarce resources, a
problem articulated by Thomas Malthus in 1798 in his
work “Population,” constrains man’s ability to meet his desires. The limiting feature, however, is not so much
scarcity of resources as it is the boundless nature of our appetites or desires
for self pleasure.
According to the United Nations, the
world population increased from 1 billion in 1800 to 5.9 billion in 1997. It is expected to reach over 11 billion by
2100. Ninety-five percent of this future
growth will take place in the poorest countries, many of which cannot even feed
their present populations. But the real
issue here, according to the UN, is not overpopulation, but rather over
consumption.
The developed countries, with only 20%
of the earth’s population, now consume 60% of its resources. An article in the February 1994 issue of the
Atlantic Monthly titled “The Coming Anarchy” predicted the following scenario:
“Nations break up under a tidal flow of refugees from environmental and social
disaster. As borders crumble, another
type of boundary is erected – a wall of disease. Wars are fought over scarce resources,
especially water, and war itself becomes continuous with crime.”[2]
Edmund Burke, the English political
philosopher, addressed the societal implications of man’s unchecked appetites
best in the following statement. “In
every society, a controlling influence on will and appetite must be placed
somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be
without. It is ordained in the eternal
constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”[3]
Man can never satisfy his diverse, innate needs apart from
his creator. He craves, in his deepest
being, to be worthy, accepted, and loved, but no human relationship can
possibly give him total, unconditional, selfless love and acceptance. This love is experienced only through a close
fellowship with God, without which he can never experience this love, for “God
is Love.” It is his love which compels
us to obedience, not of necessity through force, but rather through an
overwhelming of its evidence as he reveals himself to us.
God’s Plan
A free and democratic society is incompatible with a
secularized, utilitarian philosophy without some strong, external, controlling
influence. This external influence can
take many forms. Family, tradition,
religion, law, and government are examples.
None of these, however, are ultimately sufficient because none of them
fully address or satisfy our inner longings and needs.
When the ends of utilitarian
philosophy become divorced from a belief in a spiritual, eternal reality, and
the ultimate end becomes temporal happiness, the very meaning of what is really
good for us changes. Aristotle viewed
happiness as a whole life well lived, rationally choosing those things which
are really good for us. The very concept
of what is really good for us, those things which we need by virtue of our
human nature, obviously changes when we discount the spiritual, eternal nature
of man.
External constraints may serve as a societal glue for some
time but are, in the end, insufficient without an understanding of man’s innate
capacity to experience God and to know him, and to thereby know his own
spiritual nature. Without this
knowledge, man can never truly feel fulfilled for he cannot meet his innate
spiritual need to know God and, through that knowledge, understand his own
eternal worth, value, and purpose in God’s plan for his being. Religion is also insufficient, as it is quite
possible to display all the forms of religion and still exercise no faith or
trust in, nor know God (deny the power thereof).
It is only by his unmerited favor
(grace) that we can be justified. It is
only by claiming this grace, through faith, that we can feel secure, know that
we are truly secure, and act on that knowledge to reflect God’s glorious
character of love to others. It is only
through faith that we can attain the hope of our highest good, love, and
through that truly achieve a whole life well lived. Through the divine message of salvation we
may believe, by believing we may hope, and by hoping we may love.
We become enabled to accept and love
others unconditionally only when we ourselves have experienced this
unconditional acceptance and are empowered by the indwelling presence of God to
share this with others.
Secular, humanistic philosophy and
utilitarianism, placing its faith in man’s capacity to know truth through
reason, leaves morality, justice and behavior to the discretion of enlightened
man. In his book, “The Search For Significance,”[4]
Robert McGee puts it thus: “Living without God’s divine truth, humanity sinks
lower and lower in depravity, blindly following a philosophy that intends to
heighten the dignity of man, but which instead lowers him to the level of the
animals.”
Reason vs.
Revelation
Man cannot know spiritual truth apart
from God. While God, his nature, even his
eternal godhead, can be known with certainty from created reality through human
reason, it is only through his revelation that spiritual truth can be known.
Just as science looks to the physical
world for truth, religion looks to the spiritual world for truth. Spiritual truth is not to be found in
empirical data, but just as there are physical laws, so too there are spiritual
laws. And just as the concepts contained
in physical laws provide meaning, organization, and purpose to disparate
physical events, so too, spiritual laws provide meaning, organization and
purpose to spiritual events. To understand
these spiritual laws, man must train himself to see with the eyes of the
spirit. To do this, he must first have
the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit.
In Romans 7:7, we read, “By the law is
the knowledge of sin.” The rational man
can know this full well, but it is only through the spirit that comes the
revelation of truth and the ability to overcome our sinful nature.
The True Age of
Enlightenment
John Locke’s early writings have been
regarded as primers of enlightenment philosophy and natural law theory upon
which the Founding Fathers drew heavily as the basis for the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and our democratic system of government. The writings of his later years, years which
were devoted to the study of the Holy Scriptures, should be read as a summary
to his years of study and thought on political philosophy. The following is a quote from his essay, “Christian Revelation, The Sure Standard of
Morality.”
“Whatsoever should thus be universally useful as a
standard to which men should conform their manners must have its authority
either from reason or revelation.” “Such
a law of morality Jesus Christ hath given in the New Testament; but by the
latter of these ways, by revelation. We
have from Him a full and sufficient rule for our direction and conformable to
that of reason. But the truth and
obligation of its precepts have their force, and are put past doubt to us, by
the evidence of His mission. He was sent
by God: His miracles shew it; and the authority of
God in His precepts cannot be questioned.
Here morality has a sure standard, that revelation vouches, and reason
cannot gainsay nor question…”[5]
Solomon’s search for life’s
purpose through the book of Ecclesiastes ends with these words of wisdom. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments: for this
is the whole duty of man." What
could be more plainly stated than this?
Moses, likewise, concluded his giving of the law: “For the commandment
which I give you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of your
reach. It is not in heaven, that you
should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it, that we may observe
it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you
should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear
it, that we may observe it?’ But the
word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe
it. See, I have set before you today
life and prosperity, and death and adversity.”
(Deut 30:11-15) One of
Some things are known only to God, but
through the scripture we have his clear revelation to us for all to read and
store up in their hearts, and in Jesus Christ we have God the Father’s greatest
revelation and fulfillment of the Word.
The Commandment of
Love
Let us hear then the words of
Christ. “And one of the scribes came and
having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them
well, asked him, ‘Which is the first commandment all?’ And Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all
commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord your God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord your God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the
first commandment. And the second is like,
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than
these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
It is our duty to obey God’s
commandments. God himself, through his
son, has revealed to us that the whole law is embodied in the one great
commandment to love God with our whole being and others as ourselves. It is through obedience that we are empowered
to fulfill our purpose of reflecting God’s glorious character of love to the
world around us, to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners - to
reconcile man to God. Man’s prescription
for happiness is the rational pursuit of self interest. God’s is the pursuit of the best interest of
others with one’s whole being.
The Gospel of Love
We are commanded, empowered, compelled
and created to love. We are commanded to
love by our Lord. We are empowered to do
so by God’s unconditional acceptance of us through Christ and our obedience to him
through faith. We are compelled to do so
by the Spirit of God within us and the love of God for us. We were created so that, through our
intellect, free will, and emotions we might reflect the glorious character of
Christ and reconcile others to him.
We are commanded to love, not just
with our minds but with our whole being.
It is not an option. If we are to
reflect his character and be conformed to his image, we must love for, as the
apostle John says, “He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
If we are to be obedient children, we must love, for this is God’s
greatest commandment and it is our duty to be obedient in performing it. If we are to have the blessed assurance of
our faith, we must love, for “We know that we have passed out of death into
life because we love the brethren.” (1
John 3:14)
If we are to experience the full joy
of God’s forgiveness we must love for we pray “…and forgive those who trespass
against us,” and true forgiveness proceeds from love. If we are to experience God, his fullness and
his presence in our lives, we must love for “if we love one another, God abides
in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
(1 John 4:12) If we are to be
anything for Christ, then we must love, for without love we are nothing. (1 Cor 13:2)
If God is to be God, then he must
demand that we love him, for love is the eternal highest good, and he must want
that good for all of his children or he would be acting contrary to his very
nature. God must demand love, for love
is the fulfillment of the law.
If God must command that we love, it
would be the height of absurdity for us to believe that he would not also
enable us to love. If we fail in love,
it is not God’s failure, but ours. The
command, at one stroke, destroys all excuses as it contains both the unequivocal,
unambiguous demand and the promise of the provision to meet the demand.
God’s Love vs. Man’s
Love
The love commanded by God is not love
as the world knows love. First, it is
rooted in obedience. To love is to obey
the law, and love, though it may escape definition in many ways except by
describing its character, is obedience of the law.
Conversely, natural love is rooted in
self-will or desire. One might argue
that this is no different as all action proceeds from inner desire, but the natural
man is incapable of loving as God loves for this very reason. He has only his self will and competing
desires to wrestle with. For the
Christian who is in-filled with the very Spirit of God, “…it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good
pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)
It is by first being obedient in
submission to the urgings of the Holy Spirit in us that we are enabled to truly
love. It is only through obedience,
forsaking self-will, that we can love, and it is only through the Spirit of God
within us that this obedience is possible.
To love as God loves requires that we take self-will and nail it to the
cross so that it is no longer we who live and will, but Christ in us who lives
and wills, and our only desire is to be completely submitted to him.
Secondly, this love is not simply
volitional, nor simply emotional, nor yet simply physical. It involves our whole being and all of the
capabilities of each part of our being. This
is impossible with man, but with God, ‘all things are possible.’ (Mat
To love with our whole mind must
include the idea of loving with the whole capability of our mind. This, however, is impossible without the
Spirit, for spiritual perception and knowledge would be lacking. We would be left with that knowledge which is
acquired only through our physical perceptions, which knowledge is often flawed
and incomplete as “…the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor
Neither can we love with all of the
capabilities of our physical strength without God, for it is God who “shall
renew” our strength. (Is. 40:31) Samson’s great physical strength did not lie
in his long hair. His unshaven head was
simply the symbol of his obedience to God as one especially consecrated to God
– a Nazerite.
Nor can we love with our whole spirit without God, for without the love
and unconditional acceptance of God, we can never truly love and accept
ourselves as we should, much less others.
Our deep, spiritual, inner need for love, acceptance, and worth cannot
be met outside of God’s grace.
Erotic love and brotherly love are
really only self-love. They seek to
possess the object of love as the one and only love because the object of love
presents itself as pleasing, either sensually or emotionally. They love to meet or fulfill personal desire,
whereas in God’s love our desires, our wills, are shaped through
obedience. To put it more plainly, with
natural man, love is an expression of desire, but with spiritual man his
desires are an expression of his love which is made perfect through and is
obedience to the will of God.
Empowered to Love
We are empowered to love as we ought
by obedience through faith. It has been
said that love is not a feeling but is rather a commitment. Our emotional and spiritual commitments,
however, are necessarily connected to our mental/rational commitments and our
actions. Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit thy
works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.” James
To act in faith means to rely
completely on God. To act in a loving
manner, whether we feel loving or not, requires a commitment to obedience to
and reliance on God. When we make this
mental commitment to act in obedience to God, regardless of the cost to us
personally, and then follow through on this commitment, God “establishes” our
thoughts by showing himself to be always true to his word.
When we see his purpose and his will
worked out in our lives and in the lives of those we love, not because of our
abilities or our actions but through our total reliance on him, our faith is
made “complete.” The evidence of his
personal presence in our lives to work all things out for good is made
clear. We more fully realize, not just
through intellectual belief but through personal experience, that we can truly,
totally rely on God, and this enables us to love him and others more
completely.
As we act in obedience to God, he
shows us how completely he meets our deepest needs and we come to realize that
it is only through him that those needs can truly be met. We come to realize that, truly, in him we
live and move and have our being (Acts
Our emotional commitment grows by the
exercise of our faith, and our faith comes by hearing, and this by the word of
God (Rom
There is an old saying in computer
lingo – GIGO. It stands for “garbage in,
garbage out.” The same principle, in
many ways, applies to human beings. We
will become, in some sense, what we choose to meditate and reflect on. If we constantly dwell on our failures, we
will likely become very hesitant to take any risks that might lead to more or,
if we do act, it may tend to be in a half hearted manner, precipitating the
very failure that we fear. If we
entertain sinful thoughts, we will be much more likely to act in a sinful manner. All action, unless it is instinctive, begins
in our thought lives. Proverbs 23:7
tells us, “Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of
life.”
To become more committed to God, to love him with our
whole being, we must exercise our faith, and to exercise our faith we must fill
our minds with the things of God and, through obedience, begin the walk of
faith. Then will God “…open unto you the
windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.” (Mal 3:10) Feed your mind with the word of God. Meditate upon it. Dwell upon it. Develop a passion for God’s word and the
habit of putting it into practice. God
has promised that his word will not return void. Let his word become part of your very
being.
Compelled by the Spirit
We are compelled to love by the Spirit of God within us
and by the love of God for us. Total,
Godly love does indeed start with that mental commitment, but more importantly,
there must first be a relationship formed by that act of obedience and
commitment in accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior. At that moment, the Spirit of God indwells us
and begins to reveal to us those areas of our lives which we need to commit to him. God tells us, “…behold, I will pour out my
spirit upon you, I will make known my words to you.” (Prov 1:23) God reveals the hidden truths of his word to
us through his spirit. Jeremiah 31:33
says, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their
hearts.”
In his word, through the agency of the Holy Spirit, God
reveals to us his will for our lives. In
our daily walk, God brings the revealed word to our remembrance so that we
perceive not only with the eyes of the flesh but also with the vision of the
spirit. He brings it to our remembrance
at precisely the right moment and precisely the right place to fulfill his
purpose in us and through us.
The Spirit leads us to the point of decision to obey or
disobey. It does not alone compel. It is only through obedience that God,
because of his infinite love for us, proves himself to be always faithful and
reveals even more of himself to us. As
the prophet Isaiah teaches us, “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
breasts. For precept must be upon
precept; precept upon precept; line upon line; line upon line; here a little,
and there a little.” (Isaiah 28: 9-10)
As we commit ourselves to act in obedience, God directs
our thoughts and emotions, enabling us to more fully love him, and further
reveals himself to us. He gives us a
heart to know him (Jer 24:7). Our passion for God and his word grows as we
act in obedience to the urging of the Spirit and see God work in and through
our lives as we rely on him. This
compelling, then, is not one of necessity, but one of overwhelming evidence of
God’s faithfulness to his word when we act in obedience to him. It is this overwhelming evidence which cuts
like a knife to circumcise our very hearts.
Through the urging of the Spirit, our obedience, and God’s faithfulness,
we become even more dedicated to God in our very feelings.
Created By Him and For Him
We are created so that, through our intellect, free will,
and emotions, we might reflect the glorious character of Christ and reconcile
others to him. With all of our talents,
abilities, and assets, we are unable to meet our own needs for security, worth,
purpose, and love. It is only in giving
ourselves completely to God, body, mind, and soul, that we will ever truly find
real life, real liberty, or real happiness.
To love him with our whole being, and through that relationship to be
enabled to truly love others, is our highest good, for it is what we were made
for.
The Nature and
Character of Love
The nature of love is that which
it truly, in its essence, is. It is that
definition of love which encompasses all other definitions. The true nature of love is obedience of the
law. (II John 1:6) Without love, we are nothing. Without the indwelling presence of God, we
cannot love as we ought. Our motivations
have their genesis in our needs and wants and our desire to meet them. Even our acts of altruism can be traced to
our desire to be accepted and praised by others or to feel justified in our own
minds by proof of our goodness. This,
however, is also vanity. There is none
good save God. We are all sinners
justified only by the blood of Jesus and his sacrifice. It is his righteousness that God sees in us,
not our own. Our righteousness is as
filthy rags. All of our works, no matter
how good they may be or how many may benefit from them, matter not to God as a
means to justify us in his sight. Jesus,
and only Jesus, is our sole justification.
We may understand all knowledge and all mysteries, and use that talent
to help others, but if we have not love, we are nothing. We may be the most eloquent speaker the world
has ever heard, able to move the hearts and minds of others to do great and
mighty works, but without love, it profits us nothing.
We can give all that we have, even our
very lives, to the service of others, even giving our bodies to be burned, and
if we have not love we are nothing.
Without love, it is all nothing – of absolutely no consequence and
valueless – in regards to our worth or value in God’s eyes. God help us.
How can anyone stand in the presence of a holy God who calls us to be
perfect even as he is perfect? Praise
God, we can. Not in our own
righteousness. Not in our own works, but
through the sacrifice of God’s son. We
cannot love as we ought, but Christ in us and through us can. It is only through obedience to the urgings
of the Spirit that we can love as we ought so that it is not we who will, but
Christ in us who wills.
Have you quenched the Spirit? Have you denied the Spirit’s urging to love
the unlovely, to forgive those who mistreat you, or to be patient and loving
when your carnal nature was screaming within you to return insult for
insult? In our own strength, these
things are impossible, but the Spirit speaks to our hearts, hearts born in
selfishness, to be unselfish. It is only
through obedience to the urgings of the Spirit that our motivations can be
pure, for it is only in this way that our motivations can come from a source of
purity – the Holy Spirit living within us.
The Compelling of
the Spirit
It is through obedience to the urgings
of the Spirit that God enables us to grow in love for, through obedience, God
reveals himself, his nature, and his will to us. That his nature is infinite power, infinite
wisdom, and infinite goodness we all attest, but through obedience and the
continued revelation of God to us we experience them first hand. Moreover, it is only through our obedience to
his revealed will, even though that revelation may be only in part and that
part which we have been prepared to receive, that we may see his nature
revealed, for through our obedience he shows himself to be faithful.
He shows us that his way is the way
that truly leads to our happiness. It is
through this revelation of his nature that the evidence of his superior
authority is clearly displayed to our reason.
If, then, happiness is our aim, it becomes irrational to presume that we
could attain this state through any other means. We are morally obliged to obey, as obligation
is no more than a restriction of our liberty to use any means to obtain the
ends we seek, and reason clearly shows that our happiness can be obtained
through no other means. This, however,
does not alone compel us to obedience. It does, if only for the brief moment of the
revelation, fix our eyes on Christ and compel us to decide – will I look down
at the waves thrashing about my feet and be distracted from my goal, or will I
continue to see my Lord and his will and direction for my life?
The
moment we take our eyes off of the Savior, our reasoning is impaired by
self-will and misperception. It is only
through the continued obedience to God’s revealed will that our spiritual
myopia can be corrected and, just as our short sighted vision returns the
moment our eyeglasses are removed, even so our spiritual short-sightedness
returns the moment we take our eyes off the Savior.
We often, like Peter, ask the Lord to
reassure us in the storms of life, to help us to walk above the raging waves of
life’s troubles. We also often are
prone, like Peter, to become distracted from our goal – to walk with Christ
through the storm, constantly moving towards him, and become overwhelmed by
life’s troubles.
For our love for God to grow, we need
to obey him. Those who love him obey his
voice. Do they obey him because they
love him? Perhaps rather they love him
because through their obedience he reveals more of himself, his nature, his
goodness, his wisdom, and his power to them in a personal way. To love God is to obey him, for it is only
through our obedience that he will reveal himself to us and, through this
revelation, allow us to love him and, through him, others as we should.
When there is an area of our lives in
which God has clearly revealed to us a need for obedience, he is asking for us
to let him reveal more of himself to us, even when the change seems a small
thing. Small or large, obedience is
always required to experience the reality of God in our lives.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
Proverbs
Only God can take the neediness out of
our relationships because only God can satisfy our deepest needs. We are enabled to love others as we should
when we experience God’s unconditional love and acceptance which frees us from
seeking fulfillment of these needs in our relationships with others. He frees us to love as we should by making us
totally secure in him and completely worthy through him, for he becomes our
high tower and our righteousness.
Love is Patient –
(Latin: Patiri – to suffer)
(Those thoughts, emotions, and expressions which
proceed from an inner motivation of desiring the best for others. The quality or habit of enduring without
complaint.)
The command to love is not solely a
call to action, but also one to forbearance, which often requires a much
greater strength of will, or more correctly a greater degree of submission to
God’s will.[7]
No greater example can be shown than that of
the patience of Christ as he prayed in the garden until sweat drops of blood
from his agonizing heart came forth, and then as he was beaten and scourged
without uttering a word in his defense.
Such forbearance could possibly be conceived of one who was powerless,
but even then it is hard to believe. How
much more incredible in one who could but speak the word and a host of angels
would suddenly come to his aid, whose power and wisdom had knit the very bones
of his tormentors together in their mother’s wombs, and whose unfathomable
mercy was bestowed on them even as they spat upon, mocked, and beat him, the
very Son of God.
In Christ, the will of the Father and
the will of the Son were one. His
patience was born of the absolute knowledge that he was living and acting in
the very center of God’s will for him.
“I can of mine own will do nothing:
As I hear I judge: and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own
will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (John 5:30)
Christ knew that the will of the Father was being worked in him and
through him, and he was perfectly obedient, even unto death, to his father’s
will.
If we know that we are living and
acting in God’s will, to whom can we complain when the path seems onerous or
burdensome? Rather we should count it
all joy knowing this, “…that the trying of your faith worketh
patience.” (James 1:3) It does so because, through our obedience,
God reveals more of himself and his will to us.
How difficult it is at times to see the Father’s will through our
trials, yet it is impossible to see his will without obedience through our
trials. How often have we stopped short
and given in to our selfish nature, thereby denying others of that good which
God had planned for them through our
obedience and denying ourselves the privilege of seeing God’s will worked out
before our eyes and his faithfulness indelibly impressed on our hearts?
Love is Kind – (OE: cynde – natural)
(Of a friendly, or warmhearted nature. Showing sympathy or understanding)
How unnatural it is for us to be kind,
yet that is the original meaning of the word.
Perhaps we should think of it as the manner in which we should naturally
react to others. We should naturally
seek to understand others rather than seeking to be understood by them. We miss so much when we attempt to formulate
an answer even before the question is put.
To listen with a warm and understanding heart is an art which must be
practiced and developed. Jesus spoke of
this so subtly yet with words that penetrate to the core of the matter when he
said, “Take heed therefore how ye hear,” in speaking of the parable of the sower. Here, the
seed is God’s word, yet the principles of good listening are the same. It is important not so much that we hear but
how we hear, and to hear aright, we must first prepare our hearts.
To truly hear with understanding
requires an identification with and understanding of another’s situation,
feelings, and motives. We must
vicariously experience their hurt, their joy, their anger, their frustration,
their temptation.[8] How easy it is for us to condemn another’s
sin in an area in which we have not been tempted. We see only their failures and not God’s
mercy to us in not allowing us to be tempted in a like manner. We boast of our strength when it is God’s
provision that has kept us strong.
To feel as we feel, it suited our Lord “…to be made like
unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest…” (Heb 2:17)
Surely he felt the hurt of the leper when he said, “Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean.” (Luke
5:12) The leper knew that Christ could
but speak the word, that he could but will that he be healed, and it would be
accomplished. He did not ask for a
touch, though surely his heart cried out for one. Cast out from society, from those he loved
and those who loved him, not even allowed in their presence much less physical
contact, he had been without the touch of humankind no doubt for some
time.
Jesus understood the need of his heart as well as his
physical need and, with one stroke met them both. Christ heard the lepers words with his ears,
but he understood his needs with his heart.
The leper asked to be made whole.
Most would see the leper’s disfigurement and interpret his request as to
be cured from his disease, but Jesus knew that the disease had injured much
more than his physical body. It had cut
him off from the touch, the love, of mankind and wounded his innermost
being. His sense of worth, value, and
purpose, his deep inner needs, had been denied ever since the priest had
uttered that fateful word so long ago; “unclean.”
Little did he know that his knowledge of his worth, value,
and purpose would be revealed to him in such a miraculous way. Much less could he have dreamed that it would
be revealed at the same time his physical body was made whole. Neither, however, could possibly have taken
place without his obedience in turning to Christ as his source of healing,
worth, and purpose. In so doing, not
only was he made whole physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but he
reflected the glorious character of Christ to the world for all generations to
read and hear so that others might likewise be healed and reconciled to God.
As Jesus saw the leper’s physical as well as spiritual and
emotional needs, so we must see the needs of others. A good physician knows just the right balm or
pill to relieve the pain of our illness, but a great physician removes the very
source of the pain. He doesn’t stop
after asking what hurts. He seeks to
understand the cause of the hurt. The
great physician goes even further. He
feels our hurt as a loving father aches in his very being when the child that
he loves hurts. This depth of
understanding and feeling only comes with an equal depth of love for
others. We must see others as the Savior
sees them. We must let our perceptions
be filtered through the lens of the mind and the Spirit of Christ.
“For what man knoweth the things
of man save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but
the spirit of God. Now we have received
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God: that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God.”
“For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (I Cor
David Hume, an eighteenth century philosopher, spoke of
the intrinsic connection between the spiritual and the physical nature of
man. In his work, “An Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding,” he says this:
“For
first; is there any principle in all nature more mysterious than the union of
soul with body; by which a supposed spiritual substance acquires such an
influence over a material one, that the most refined thought is able to
activate the grossest matter? Were we
empowered, by a secret wish, to remove mountains, or control the planets in
their orbit, this extensive authority would not be more extraordinary, nor more
beyond our comprehension. But if by
consciousness we perceive any power, we must know its connection with the
effect; we must know the secret union of the soul and body, and the nature of
both these substances, by which one is able to operate, in so many instances,
upon the other.”[9]
How little we understand of the
mysteries of the human soul, much less the Spirit of God within us. It is the Spirit which connects us to and
makes us individually part of the body of Christ, each part with its necessary
function but each part animated by the same Spirit within us. It is the Spirit which allows us to
understand the heart of man, “…for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth; for man looketh
on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on
the heart.” (I Sam 16:7) To treat others with kindness, to truly
understand them, we must see with the eyes and hear with the ears of the
Spirit.
Love is Not Jealous
(Concerning or arising from
feelings of envy, apprehension of loss, or bitterness.)
There is a fascinating depiction of
human nature in game theory called The Prisoner’s Dilemma. The theory attempts to explain and depict
human choice as self-utility maximizing; a strategy that bases all conscious
decisions on, first and foremost, the meeting of one’s desires for self
pleasure and gratification. The set up
to the game goes like this. Suppose that
you were arrested for a crime which you did not commit. After some time, you are brought before the
judge. He tells you that there is
another individual, whom you have never nor will ever see or know anything
further about other than that he is also innocent, that has been incarcerated
for the same crime. The judge makes you
the following offer. If you accuse the
other man of the crime and he, on his part, remains silent, you will be set
free and receive a reward and he will remain in jail. If you remain silent and he accuses you, he
will be set free and receive the reward and you will remain in jail. If both of you accuse the other, both of you will
remain in jail. If both of you remain
silent, both of you will be set free.
Game theory attempts to predict and
explain the results based purely on the premise that each individual will make
a choice that will provide them with the most personal benefit (you go free and
receive a reward). This choice, however,
leads to the dilemma in that, if each prisoner makes this choice, neither one
gets what they want and the desires of both are frustrated. The only way the dilemma is potentially
resolved is by altering the end game parameters and assuming the game to
consist of multiple plays with personal benefits accruing with each successive
play. In this manner, the incremental
utility of the long term cooperative play would outweigh the one time end game
accuse strategy.
What a perfectly rational yet
altogether saddening picture of fallen man.
The fact that variations of this game were played during Cold War
nuclear confrontation scenarios makes this example all the more frightening as
a motivational model of human behavior.
It is rooted in fear of loss, insecurity, and also envy if we consider
as a strategy limiting the utility gained of the opponent, an obvious strategy
in the contest for power. We seek
comparative advantage over others in terms of wealth, knowledge, or strength in
order that we might control the outcome to our advantage and the disadvantage
of our enemies. We place our trust in
our treasures, our might, and our understanding, and any diminution of these
threatens our security. We legitimize
and justify our planned or past actions, often regardless of their inherently
immoral nature and without a clear understanding of their potential utility in
achieving the good which we seek through their use, by claiming that they are
necessary to achieve the higher good. In
reality, it is more often the individual, personal benefit which we seek.
By doing evil in attempting to achieve
good, we become evil and, what is worse, rationalize that we are not. We discount faith, hope, and love as having
any possible usefulness in the ‘real’ world in which we live and thereby
relegate their glory, and that of their author, to the realms of idealist
speculation – beautiful in theory but of no practical significance.
In doing so, we foster the very
insecurities which we are trying to overcome.
If a little wealth makes us somewhat secure, more wealth will make us
more secure. If a little prestige gives
us pleasure, more prestige is better. In
seeking to fill the spiritual void in our lives through temporal means, we find
that each successive attainment of our goals leaves us still insecure and
wanting. Since these means can never
satisfy our deep inner needs, our quest becomes limitless. Is it any wonder that those whose sights are
not firmly fixed on Jesus have feelings of jealousy, envy, apprehension, and
bitterness?
What a bitter pill it is to find,
after struggling a whole lifetime to become successful, sacrificing health,
family, friends, and possibly one’s very soul, one finds, only too late, that
all of this is truly vanity. Love is not
jealous because love is rooted in the total confidence that God will supply all
of our needs through his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)
“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” (Ps 91:4)
The word picture from this Psalm is of a mother hen with her chicks. The chicks do not know how to meet their own
needs. They scurry about, bumping into
this and that, and wind up separated from the mother hen. Lost and alone, they cry out, and the mother
hen, who was never far away, gently gathers them under her protective
wings. If they would only rest there
secure, they could avoid the bumps.
Love Does Not Put On
Airs
(Is not snobbish)
The word Snob can be defined in some
of the following ways: One who is convinced of and flaunts his social
superiority; A person who despises his inferiors and whose condescension arises
from social or intellectual pretension; An effort by conformists to express
individuality; Pretension – A studied show of superiority.
There are many genres of snobs. There are fashion snobs who will pay
exorbitant prices for an item of clothing with a tag bearing a famous
designer’s name, even if it appears to be no more than a piece of common burlap
sewn together. There are intellectual
snobs who, of course, prefer to be described as the intellectual elite, this
euphemism evidently arising from the fact that only other unknown intellectual
elitists have ever heard of them. There
are genealogical snobs who frequently refer to their bloodline as if the
inheritance of acquired characteristics were still a valid theory. Of course, there are also religious
snobs.
Whatever its form, snobbery seeks to
make distinctions in comparisons, thereby reinforcing or heightening
perceptions of self worth. It boasts of
or takes pride in these distinctions, even at times when the distinction is not
particularly flattering. It is an effort
to express individuality, even if that individuality is, in essence, a type of
conformity.
Christ was well aware and warned us of
man’s natural disposition to snobbery.
He warned us, “Therefore when thou doest thine
alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy right
hand know what thy left hand doeth.”
(Math 6:2-3) This is the
antithesis of social pretension because it is not men we should be trying to
impress or, for that matter, should we hope to impress God, for he sees to the
heart, and the only thing that impresses him on our behalf is the shed blood of
Christ which covers our iniquities.
Without this covering, all God sees are the filthy rags of our feeble
attempts to earn our own way to righteousness or justification. It is only in humility that we can come
before the throne of grace, for “God resisteth the
proud but giveth grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
[10]
God asks us to do the exact opposite
of what our human inclination would have us to do. While we seek a studied show of superiority,
God tells us to “Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another,
that ye may be healed.” (II Cor
All this is not to say that
distinctions are useless among men, for God also tells us that we will be known
by our fruits. These, however, are self
evident and need not be advertised by ourselves. Proverbs 27:2 tells us, “Let another man
praise thee and not thine own lips.” There is an old, tried and true saying: “You
can’t fool the troops.” You may boast of
your good deeds and character until the cows come home but, if it is not evidenced
in your life, it is, in the final analysis, only self deception. Those who know you best see through the
falsehood and, eventually, so will everyone else. Unfortunately, self-deception is pernicious
and often more persuasive than the admonishment of friends.
The most difficult part of any healing
process is the step requiring the admission that there is a problem. That is why it is so crucial to our
acceptance of God’s grace to come to the realization that we are all sinners
and have all, like sheep, gone astray.
Oh that we, like David, could hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
when we realize the true state of our natural being, we also realize that it is
only through the righteousness of Christ that we can possibly be
justified. Then our hearts will be more
filled with mercy for those who do not have the restraining influence of the
Spirit of God within them. We who are
upheld only by the free spirit of Christ, can reconcile others to him only
after we have experienced the joy of our salvation from our sin nature, and
this can come only upon the realization that this is our natural state –
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my
mother conceive me.” (Ps 51:5) Only God, who sees the heart, can create in
us a clean heart and renew a right, or constant, spirit within us, for only God
is “…the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
The most disconcerting aspect of
snobbishness is that it is so often found in the church. Perhaps this is inevitable as the church,
although it is not of the world, is in the world and is therefore affected by
its conceptions of honor. Our
conceptions of other’s worth are so often linked to our conceptions of the
worth of their secular vocations. We are
prone to evaluate an individual’s ability or worth, even God’s ability to use
an individual, with an evaluation of their social or economic status or
profession. Consciously or
unconsciously, we set limits on our conceptions of what individuals, or even
groups, are capable of and consequently set limits on our conceptions of what
God is able to do through them.
God tells us, however, that he “…hath
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, hath God
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that
no flesh should glory in his presence.”
(I Cor
How often has the strength of Christ’s
collective church to effect good been hampered by the schism of doctrines when
all agreed on the most important doctrine – Christ and he crucified and
risen? How often have we missed out on
God’s blessing in seeing his will performed through others by assuming them incapable of any great
work? Rather, it is not by power, nor by
might, but by the Spirit of God that his will is performed through willing
vessels whether those vessels, in and of themselves, have any capability at
all, for it is not our ability that God desires but our faithful obedience to
be used by him.
What a relief to realize that we are
more than able, through simple, childlike faith, to accomplish whatever God has
called us to do. We need not have a high
IQ, or great wealth, or high position.
We need not strive to become anything except what God has called us to
be. Whether we are a corporate CEO or a
street sweeper, he has a work for us in that capacity. Our being there is not because of our innate
talents, or lack thereof, but because God’s providence has put us there to
accomplish his divine will, and he can just as easily put us somewhere
else. We must learn, like Paul, to be
content in whatever situation God, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to put
us. It is so easy for us to think in our
hearts, “…my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.” (Deut 8:17)
We must remember the Lord, as Moses warned his people, “…for it is he
that giveth the power to get wealth, that he may
establish His covenant…” (Deut 8:18)
It is likewise easy for us to think
that our failures, lack of ability, or low estate render us useless to
God. If we are being faithful to God, we
need not worry. We should neither glory
in our abilities not cry for their presumed absence, for “…the race is not to
the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet
riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and
chance happeneth to them all,” (Eccl 9:11) but the soul that trusts in the
Lord shall be established.
Love is Never Rude
(
Although I believe the first
definition to be most consistent with the text, the second is also applicable,
for our ill mannered responses to others are often simply emotional reactions
which have escaped being filtered through the lens of love or reason. They are delivered without skill or precision
if our intent is to address the needs of others. Of course, sometimes they are delivered with
excruciating precision to cut to the very heart of others and, in this case,
are simply ill mannered or, worse, vindictive.
Collectively, we seem to have lost
much by eschewing many of the social graces and courtesies of past ages in the
names of free expression, individualism and pragmatic efficiency. We often confuse free expression with plain
tactlessness when, out of laziness or simply a lack of concern for the impact
our words and actions may have, we fail to frame our expressions in a manner
which shows respect for others. This is
not a wistful appeal to the past when gentility and social courtesy were the
outward expressions of a simpler age, but rather an appraisal of the present in
which people seem to have forgotten, or never learned, the social mores which
were, in the not too distant past, simply called manners and without which
society, much less civil society, would be brutish and quite possibly
self-destructive.
Put more simply, good manners are the
small, everyday expressions of our commitment to a much larger ethical schema,
love, and are the building blocks which form in us the habit of acting in a
loving manner. These are the ‘lesser
ethics,’ the practice of which shape our dispositions, habits and character so
that, when we are faced with the inevitable ethical crises of life, our
practical bent will be toward doing what is right. They are the outward expression of our
faithfulness in the smallest expressions of love which equip us to be entrusted
with acting faithfully in love’s higher callings. Good manners enable good morals.
Few have articulated this as
succinctly as Edmund Burke:
“Manners
are more important than laws. Upon them,
in great measure, the laws depend. The
law touches us but here and there, now and then. Manners are what vex or sooth, corrupt or
purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady,
uniform, insensible operation like that of the air we breath in. They give their whole form and color to our
lives. According to their quality, they
aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them,” (Letters on a Regicide Peace, I, 1796)
The written, positive law serves to
codify the moral ethic, thereby providing specific substance to the general
conception of right and wrong, backing it with legitimate, temporal
authority. As the written law evolves
from the unwritten moral standard, so this standard derives its solidity and
efficacy from those habits of social interaction which may collectively be
called our manners. Changes in both our
laws and our manners, therefore, are the visible expressions of changes in the
ethical standards which provide them.
Many of the changes in our
contemporary laws and manners have arisen due to misconceptions and perversions
of the doctrines of liberty and justification.
The liberty of individual conscience guided by the word through the
agency of the Holy Spirit has become perverted, by its secularization, to a
radical individualism that knows not the bounds of selfless love but only the
boundlessness of desire, will, and appetite.
We must remember Paul’s words to the
Galatians where he warns them, “Ye have been called to liberty: only use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word,
even this; thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself.” (Gal 5:13-14) Likewise, he warns the Corinthians, “All
things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things
edify not. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another’s wealth.” (I Cor
Likewise, although we are not
justified by works, but by faith, our faith is made complete by our works of
love. (Gal 5:6) It is through this working out of our faith
by our daily acts of love to others that God shows himself to be ever present,
active, and faithful. It is by being
obedient in the small things that we are enabled to be obedient in the larger
things. It is only by first learning to
follow that we may learn to lead. It is
only by learning to listen that we may learn to answer aright. It is only by learning the basics of love –
sympathy, kindness, consideration, and the host of other petty sacrifices that
make up good manners – that we can, with skill and precision, use these
building blocks to construct lasting, loving relationships.
Love is Not Self-Seeking
The gift of love and the gift of the
capacity to love are two of the greatest mysteries as well as most beneficent
acts of our heavenly Father to humankind.
It is beyond the capacity of our human minds to conceive of how a
perfect God could choose to sacrifice his only son, a sacrifice made equally
for all, for imperfect, sinful creatures such as we. It is equally difficult to comprehend the
paradox of the kind of love that we are called to exhibit – love that is
equally completely selfless yet manifested within a nature so driven by
personal needs and their fulfillment. An
understanding of the gift and the apparent paradox will elude us unless we
understand the nature of man, beginning with the premise that he is not only a
physical and mental being, but a spiritual being as well. When we recognize that man is, in his nature,
composed of mind, body, and also spirit, the difficulty becomes resolvable.
Just as love has many characteristics
but selflessness is the most descriptive, so man has several innate
characteristics but his spiritual nature and needs are the most descriptive of
him as, first, they are the only permanent part of his makeup and, second, they
govern, to a large extent, the expressions of his other potentialities. It is the limitless nature of the spirit of
man and his quest for the fulfillment of its potentialities which, apart from
being fulfilled in God, drive him to the boundless pursuit of mere pleasure,
hoping thereby to be satisfied. Because
the spiritual needs of man are of such great influence, gross errors are
brought about when they are disregarded, not only in our understanding of
ourselves and others, but also in fundamental issues concerning prescriptive
truths and our ability to fulfill the dictates of these truths.
Prescriptive truths are those which,
because they state how things ought to be and not how they actually exist in
objective reality, must be self-evident to claim the mantle of truth. This self-evidence consists in the
impossibility of conceiving the opposite of what is stated. For instance, the truth that we ought to
desire what is really good for us and nothing else unless these additional
‘goods’ do not interfere with our obtaining what is really good for us is
self-evident. It is impossible to conceive
of the truth of the opposite proposition – that we ought to desire what is
really bad for us. This self-evident
truth puts us under the moral obligation, assuming we are free moral agents, to
seek what is really good for us.
What is really good for us is that
which we, by nature, need as equally created human beings, equal in the sense
that we all possess in equal measure those potentialities which distinguish us
from other creations. At this point,
self-evidence leaves us and we must look to objectively evidenced human nature
to determine, specifically, what those real goods are which we ought all to
desire.
This is also the point at which the
grievous error is made of discounting the spiritual nature of man due to the
seeming impossibility of objectively experiencing its expression. It is quite easy to accept that man, because
of his physical being, needs those things which sustain life. These are real
goods for him. It is also easy to accept
that man, because of his mental nature and capacity to learn, needs
knowledge. This is a real good for
him. It is much more difficult to
accept, because of his spiritual nature, man’s innate potentiality to acquire
spiritual wisdom – the knowledge of the reality of God obtained through
experiencing him in our daily lives. If
spiritual wisdom is, in fact, a real good (something that we need by nature
because it is an innate potentiality), then we are under a moral obligation
which is categorical to seek it. Whether
we accept this as truth or not makes it no less true.
Herein lies the great mystery of
love. The knowledge of the reality of God can only be objectively evidenced
to us through our exercise of faith in and obedience to God. As we are obedient in showing his love to
others, God manifests himself to us and, in so doing, fulfills our innate
spiritual need to know him and experience him in our daily lives.
By considering other’s needs as more
important than our own, and by forsaking our own apparent needs in
consideration of others, we show them God’s love and help them to experience his
reality. It is only when we are obedient
to God in selflessly sharing his love with others that he reveals himself to
us, thereby fulfilling our deep, spiritual need to know him. The
objective reality of our innate, spiritual need to know God cannot be
objectively demonstrated without faith and obedience. As the commandment to love is an all
encompassing commandment, without being obedient in love through faith we
cannot know God. Without love, we are
truly nothing, for without being obedient in love we cannot know God.
One might argue that love is not
selfless if it is motivated by a desire to fulfill one’s personal needs, even
though the nature of the acts may appear selfless. To be obedient in love, however, requires
that we truly are selfless. We must
truly desire the good of others above our own.
As God sees to the heart, he also knows if we are truly being obedient
in love, and this is another great mystery, for it is humanly impossible –
beyond our nature – to be able to love as we ought.
It is only by allowing the Spirit of
God within us to love through us that we can truly love as we ought. The gift of the capacity to love as we ought
is the gift of the Spirit of God within us.
It is the Spirit which shapes the desires of our heart so that we desire
aright, and it is only by loving through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit
within us that we can truly be obedient in love, experience the reality of God
in our daily lives, and attain the spiritual wisdom which we all need by
nature. The paradox is that we can only
verify this innate potentiality by first being obedient, for it is only through
obedience that God reveals himself to us.
This is not to say that there is not
sufficient evidence of the existence of God without our obedience, for “…the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
godhead.” (Rom
Love is Not Easily
Provoked
Does Not Take
Offense
A person’s feelings are such a
delicate, changeable, and unpredictable thing.
One moment we may feel on top of the world and the next, because of a
caustic statement by a boss, a lover, or a friend, that feeling of elation is
transformed, in a moment, from apprehension, to sadness, to anger. How could they say such things? Don’t they know how hard I’m trying? Am I really good for nothing? How dare they! Who do they think they are anyway?
Of course, quite often these questions
simply simmer within us and are not given verbal expression. The outward expression of these feelings may
be limited to a less than stellar performance on the task at hand, avoidance of
the offending party, small talk to co-workers about the boss’s total lack of understanding
of the problem, or the physical venting of anger on or with inanimate
objects. Often, it is only when we get
home to those whom we really love and trust that we give full vent to our
feelings of loss of worth or value and anger.
After all, if you can’t take it out on your families, on whom can you
take it out on? You’ve got plenty to be
mad at them for. The children never
close a door or drawer. Whatever they
use winds up right on the floor, just where they stopped using it. They don’t respect the value of
anything. They can be so
destructive. That new car we got – I
still can’t believe how much we paid for it – has already gotten bubble gum
stuck in the carpet, and the dent from the baseball – Oh! I could just…. Pretty soon, we forget what it was that made
us feel angry in the first place, and all those pent up feelings are boring
down on
The picture doesn’t need to be
completed. We’ve all been there, either
as the worker, the little boy or girl, or as the parent, and we’ve all learned,
some better than others and either from the giving or receiving end, ways to
cope with anger, either theirs or ours.
Part of this coping process is learning not only how to deal with the
feeling, but the root causes that generate the feeling.
Anger is a natural emotion. We all experience it. It is a natural reaction when we view or
experience those things which go contrary to the way we think they ought to go,
the way we expect them to go, or the way we desire them to go. The problem with anger is not that we have
the feeling, but why we have the feeling and how we respond to that feeling.
That anger is a natural, God- given
emotion is attested to by the instances of God’s righteous anger recorded in his
word. The word tells us that, “God is
angry with the wicked every day.” (Ps
7:1) There are also many particular
instances of God’s anger. He often
became angry with his chosen people,
As anger arises from frustrated
expectations or desires, the difference must lie in the realm of our
expectations and desires, the frustration of which give rise to the feelings or
emotions of anger, righteous or unrighteous.
If the anger arises from the frustration of unrighteous expectations or
desires, it cannot be without sin. If
our expectations, hopes, and desires are rooted in love, the more common
emotion associated with their frustration will be sadness as we experience
others acting contrary to that manner which would bring about what is really
good for them and others. The words of
Christ as he hung on the cross are illustrative of this point: “Father, forgive them for they know not what
they do.”
God’s righteous anger is kindled against us when we
knowingly and willfully act contrary to what he has clearly revealed to us to
be the manner in which we should act.
For man’s anger to be righteous then, it must proceed first from a heart
of love and, second, from a knowledge of the heart of others. If we truly desire the best for others, when
this desire is frustrated by others unknowingly acting in a manner which is
inappropriate to the attainment of their personal happiness or the happiness of
others, we will experience sadness, not anger.
What is more, the degree of our sadness will be
commensurate with the strength of our desire and love, as our emotional
reactions are always most passionate in regards to those things about which we
care deeply. Additionally, this sadness
is not something which we choose to feel, but is rather the natural and
necessary reaction to the frustration of our desires. This is why it has been said that feelings
are neither right nor wrong, and neither good nor bad. They just are. There are, however, righteous and unrighteous
desires, and it is in their fulfillment or frustration that these emotions
arise.
The requirement that we know the heart, the motivations
and inner intent, of others in their actions of anger renders most human
emotions of anger unrighteous unless, of course, the motivations and inner
intent are clearly manifested to us either by the actor or the Spirit. The double requirement that righteous anger
be motivated by love makes it even more rare.
The further admonishments that we be angry and sin not and also be slow
to anger (Eph
Our own motivation, whether it is based on love or concern
for the needs of others, is also determinant.
It is for these very reasons that we are admonished, time and again, to
be slow to anger that we might avoid not only the sin of unrighteous anger but
the cascade of resulting errors that inevitably follow.
None of the foregoing is meant to suggest that we should
never have the emotion of anger or that we are incapable of righteous
anger. Again, if it were inappropriate,
it would not have been evidenced in our Lord.
The dual prerequisite of love and insight into the motivations of others
is not something unattainable. A
mother’s natural love for her children and her anger at those who maliciously
design and carry out actions that are clearly hurtful to them is not only
righteous but very closely resembles the anger of our loving Father in heaven
towards those who would intentionally, and with a clear understanding of their
error, lead his elect astray.
The anger of Christ towards the Pharisees, those to whom
the word of God had been clearly revealed and yet who still clung to their
worldly desires, was plain. What is also
plain is that Christ’s anger was always tempered with mercy, love, and
forgiveness, and this is the point at which we frequently fail, for we often
forget that, even though others may deserve our righteous anger, we are still
commanded to love them and, from this love, show them mercy and
forgiveness. This too is what is meant
where we are admonished to be angry and sin not, for even if our anger is
righteous, if we do not also have room in our heart for mercy, love, and
forgiveness we are not without sin.
It is righteous anger, tempered by mercy and forgiveness
because it originates in love, that shapes our reactions to this powerful
emotion and allows us to channel it into constructive responses. It is the perception of the Spirit within us,
as well, that allows us to see to the heart of others so that our responses
will be most effective in eliciting the changes in and for others which will
bring about what is really good for them and which are motivated by our truly desiring
what is best for them. Is it any wonder
that we are cautioned to be slow to anger?
It takes time to understand others’ feelings. It takes time to listen to the Spirit’s
urgings. It takes time to search out the
Father’s guidance through his word. It
takes time and patience to await the answer and the proper moment that God has
set to respond. It takes time for God to
prepare the hearts of others to listen.
It takes time to give mercy and forgiveness a chance to elicit God’s
desired response in the hearts of others and for these inner decisions to find
their expression in changed behavior. It
takes time for God to prepare us to be the instruments of change in the
circumstances or environment which elicited our righteous anger and, if our
anger be righteous and our love strong, we will not shrink from the effort.
These are the fruits of righteous anger; acts of mercy and
forgiveness, changed hearts, repentance, and dedicated, untiring, persistent
effort to understand and to change those things which God had revealed to us
should be changed.
If he has clearly revealed to us those things which should
be changed, and he has indeed if we have truly experienced righteous anger,
then what should we expect if we act contrary to what he has clearly revealed
to us? Be angry and sin not. Be angry and love. Be angry and forgive. Be angry and show mercy. Be angry and allow God to help you channel
that emotion into those works which he has before ordained that you should walk
in as instruments of change.
Love Does Not Rejoice at Wrong
It might seem an easy thing to avoid rejoicing over
sin. It is, after all, contrary to the
very term Christian to consider that one called by that name could rejoice in
what is wrong. That assumes a perfection
in love, however, which is unfortunately lacking in each of us in varying
degrees and at various times. If we
consider the characteristic of love as described in I Corinthians 8:1 that
“…love builds up,” we can easily see how this is so by understanding how love
builds up. To build up in a spiritual
sense, love, being the deepest ground of the life of the spirit, must be the
foundation. How can we build up each
other in love? We can do so either by
implanting that love in the hearts of others or by so ordering our thoughts,
emotions, and actions towards them that we presuppose this foundation to be
already in place and, in love, respond by building upon it accordingly. As only God, who is love, has the power to
inspire us with his Spirit of love, it is humanly impossible for us to implant
love in the heart of another. But we can
build upon the foundation which he has laid and of which he is the
cornerstone. This presupposition of
love, then, and the natural consequences which this assumption brings, are all
that are left to us if we are to build up one another in love.
How often we misperceive the intentions of others and,
because of that misperception and the assumption of hurtful intent on the part
of others towards us, tear each other down.
Love, on the contrary, assumes the best intentions in others, regardless
of appearances, and responds in love. So
many hurtful episodes, many of which escalate and assume a character totally
out of proportion to the original incident, could be avoided by this simple assumption
and, because it is made, the understanding which is inevitably gained from it
because real communication is allowed to continue.
Much sin could also be avoided by holding the opinion that
others bear us no hurtful intent, for by assuming otherwise, we adopt a
self-righteous attitude towards them and feel justified in pointing out their
faults, deceiving ourselves that we are thus building them up in love by
pointing out their sin. We rejoice in
the false belief that “we are not like these other sinners,” and in the equally
false belief that, by pointing out their faults, we have done our duty. The exact opposite is the reality. We have erred, and erred greatly, because we
have failed to build up in love.
Of course, it is possible to know the heart of others
either when this has been revealed to us by the actors themselves or by the
Spirit. The knowledge of hurtful intent
on the part of others, however, does not absolve us from the command to love
and, as with righteous anger, our actions should still seek to build up, even
though the hurt be great and, in that response, hope and pray that God will
water the seed sown to lay a foundation of love in their heart. This does not mean that others should be
absolved from the just consequences of their actions, but that the intent of
these consequences should always be based upon achieving their real and eternal
good, and the temporary or temporal sorrow which these consequences bring
should never elicit anything but compassion, a constant hope for repentance,
and an equal willingness to show mercy and forgive. When we rejoice because others have received
a just recompense for their misconduct, not because justice has been upheld or
their regeneration possibly begun but because we derive some misguided sense of
pleasure or satisfaction in the fact that they have suffered equally to the
suffering they have caused, we rejoice in sin.
To say that this is only human is no excuse. Love, on the contrary, rejoices with the
truth. Love rejoices when the revelation
and acknowledgement of truth to and by those who have transgressed it and
caused others harm elicits repentance and changed behavior, whether they suffer
punishment equal to the harm they have caused or not. Love welcomes the repentant back with open
arms and heart and rejoices, forgetting the transgression in the joy of finding
that which was lost. Thank God that we
are well represented in God’s court of justice, for if we all received what
justice demands, we would all be lost.
Love Bears All Things
Galatians 6:2 tells us to “Bear ye one another’s burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ.” These
burdens may be physical, mental, or spiritual.
Love bears them all. So often it
is the physical burdens alone that we see and these, to be sure, are
important. If we see a brother in need,
we are not to look away from that need.
We are to feed those who are hungry, shelter those who are homeless,
cloth those who are naked, and heal those who are sick. To show concern for another’s spiritual welfare
without also showing concern for their physical as well as mental welfare is a
mockery of love. Love seeks what is
really good for another’s mental and physical as well as spiritual well being.
This, in fact, is the wisdom of love. Long before the term “holistic medicine” was
coined, love showed the way to real healing.
For healing to be real, it must include one’s whole being, for just as
the miracle of forgiveness cannot be realized until one allows oneself to be
forgiven, even so physical healing is seldom complete and lasting until ones
mental and spiritual dimensions are also made whole. It is a well known fact that we can make
ourselves physically sick from a ‘broken heart,’ or a broken spirit. Conversely, the old saying that laughter is
good medicine is also well founded. Long
before modern medicine, Solomon declared “A merry heart doeth good like
medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” (Prov 17:22)
Perhaps the reason
we focus more on the physical dimension is because of its tangible nature. It is easy to see the results when we provide
for another’s physical needs. It is
also, at times, much easier for us to provide for those needs and then to relax
with a sense of having done one’s duty.
But love calls for us to go beyond mere duty and to embrace selfless
service.
Whom would a child call father? One who provided for his every physical need
but with whom there existed no relationship except for financial support, or
one who raised him, who was there to talk with, to share hopes and dreams with
as well as disappointments and joys?
Love calls for more than the mere provision of needs. It calls for the establishment of
relationships, and these take time, energy, and real effort.
It is unlikely that we shall ever know what the burdens of
others are unless such a relationship is formed. What is also more than probable is that our
own development in love will never be complete unless we are willing to open
our hearts to others, forming these relationships. This is the very point which holds us back
from making that commitment to love and, in love, bear all.
Loving relationships assume certain obligations and
constraints. They constrain our
liberty. It is not only our conscience
that we must worry about, but we must also seek not to offend another’s
conscience. It is not our needs which
hold priority, but others needs. Our own
hopes and dreams are no longer important except as they are shared hopes and
dreams or sought in relation to attaining the real good of the other. Our liberty to ‘do as we please so long as it
doesn’t hurt anyone’ is transformed to our freedom from the chains of selfish
desires with their endless call for satisfaction to serving others because this
is now our pleasure.
Kris Kristopherson got it half
right when he said, “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’
left to loose.” The phrase, incomplete
as it is, has a sorrowful tone. It must
be completed to reveal its full meaning – love has nothing left to loose
because it has given everything that it has and, in that giving, found all that
it really ever needed.
Love Believes All Things
(There is no limit to love’s
trust)
Hopes All Things
Endures All Things
These are very difficult characteristics of love to
exemplify. They seem to say that,
although we may bear all things, fully believing that our love will receive no
recompense from the one loved, loving in fact in spite of this belief, if we
love in this manner, our love is without trust, without hope, and incomplete.
This, however, cannot be so for Christ’s love was perfect
and offered equally for all even while he knew that all would not accept this
love. The object of our limitless trust
and hope in love can only be God, for He
alone can be trusted to be always able, always true, and always sure to reward
our obedience in love by more fully revealing himself to us.
There is no limit to love’s trust and hope because there
is nothing that can limit God’s faithfulness to us when we put our trust in him. In fact, God himself is constrained by his very
character and his word. God is always
true to his word. If he were not, he
would be acting contrary to his very nature, and his word clearly tells us
that, if we trust in him, he will
direct our paths.
Understanding and accepting this does not, however, make
it easy, for God’s timing is not our timing, nor are his ways our ways, and at
times we must trust even when all of our senses tell us that our efforts are
for naught. But if we wait on the Lord, he
shall renew our strength by allowing us to clearly see him reveal himself to
us. We must look forward to that
revelation with confidence and expectation, hoping even when all hope seems
lost and our hope appears to others as mere foolishness and we but dreamers. We must let our hearts hear the “sound of the
abundance of rain” though all around us tell us that “there is nothing,” and we
must prepare for God’s response, for, in the meanwhile, as we act on that
faith, God will bring a rain of blessing.
(I Kings
Love Never Fails
Love always secures that which it seeks. The truth of this statement is difficult to
understand unless love is understood as obedience, for there are many instances
and example of unrequited love. Even the
love of Christ which seeks to draw all men to himself does not succeed in doing
so as many will not accept this love.
Love, however, never fails because God never fails when we
act in obedience to him by expressing his love to others through the
empowerment of the Spirit within us. God
is always faithful and true to his word, and his word tells us that love never
fails. The succeeding verses explain
what the success of love consists of.
They don’t speak of love being returned to the one who shows love, nor
do they speak of this love miraculously changing the hearts of others, although
both of these things could happen. No,
what they speak of is the continued, personal revelation of God to the one who
loves in obedience to him. This is why
God’s word says that love never fails.
God is always faithful in revealing more of himself to us
when we act in obedience to him. As
God’s nature is infinite, it is impossible that this revelation can ever be
complete in this life. His faithfulness
is great and his mercies are new every morning.
The revelation is a continuous process.
Love never fails because there is always more of God to be revealed to
us until we are perfected in love in his presence. Then we will know God in all his fullness and
glory and have unbroken communion with him.
How little we understand of the infinite glory, power, and
majesty of God. Now we see in part, and
that part is expanded only through our continued faith in and obedience to
God. Our growth in spiritual wisdom –
the knowledge of the reality of God as a personal, loving Father who is active
in and through our lives – is a lifelong process that will continue until we
are perfected in him.