To love means to will the best for the beloved, that the beloved might enjoy the best in happiness and flourishing.
God is the best 'thing' there is.
God, in giving himself to his creatures by adopting us in the Spirit into his own blessed life by the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son, is the perfect practitioner of love of neighbor.
Therefore, if we wish to love our neighbor, our desire must be that our neighbor have God.
But since God has already given himself to our neighbor in Christ, we must not think that it is our job to give God to our neighbor.
Instead, both love of self and love of neighbor mean the facilitation and encouragement of the acceptance of and surrender to the Gift already given in Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we who are Christians much ask ourselves each day how we may live our lives such that those around us will desire what it is we have come to have in Christ. If the joy, peace, and confidence in God we have in the Spirit attracts someone else to the acceptance of the Gift who is Jesus Christ, then we have loved our neighbor in the most supreme way.
These are the theses I wish I had heard preached in my church this morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteThe themes of our faith are so subtle that when one encounters their true meaning... one cannot help but whisper with one's entire being... "Ahhhh.... sweet."
ReplyDelete