Love is a daily topic of conversation among people, but it is for the most part about that which is earth born—of natural desires and of preferences for certain people and things. The film and theatre adverts reveal that in its basest form it is what Paul described as “vile affections”. The people “love to have it so”, and the box offices show good returns.
It is instructive to note that in his letter to the ecclesia in Galatia Paul lists adultery, fornication, uncleanness, etc., as “works of the flesh”. When, however, he comes to speak of the nine graces of christian character he calls them the “fruit of the spirit”; and contends that such works and such fruit are contrary to one another. If we are to produce this fruit it is necessary to “live and walk in the spirit”: not our spirit which, as James wrote, “Lusteth to envy”, but God’s Spirit, which cometh down from above and alone is capable of bringing forth all those things which are “lovely and of good of the Spirit is report”. This spirit from above is the power that cleanses us from all sin and thereby provides that divine fellowship of which John speaks in his epistle, “God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God”.
Our minds seem to turn automatically to the beloved disciple John when meditating upon this subject of love, yet Paul also has instruction and we often discover these two write the same. Writing to “the beloved of God in Rome” Paul reminds them that “love is the fulfilling of the law”. John wrote to “the Elect Lady and her children”, “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth as we received a commandment from the father; and now I beseech thee lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandment”.
Something from “the beginning”! What beginning? In his gospel record John speaks of a beginning in which “the word was God”, and of a later time when this “word was made flesh and dwelt among us”; John beheld “his glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth”. In his prayer to his Father Jesus spoke of this “glory” as the power which made one both the Father and the Son and also unified with them the sons which God “had given out of the world”. The closing words of this prayer link the “glory” and “the Name” and “the love”: “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
We learn that to share this love (for it is shared) is to be born again, “from above”, by the implantation in our hearts and minds of the incorruptible seed. It is this seed which can blossom within us and bring forth the fruit of the spirit. This demands a daily intercourse with the mind of God through the word of God. The human mind is empty and, as empty vessels often are, is full of noise. Our knowledge and ability is “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal”, if love is absent. Paul indicates that “giving of our goods to feed the poor” may be “humanitarianism”; agnostics have good works, and devils have been known to “believe and tremble”! Love is not a following of the way of life whose rules vary with time and place: “Love rejoiceth in the truth – believeth all things-hopeth all things – endureth all things and never fails.”
The only perfect example of such love is seen in Jesus the Christ. As soon of man he found it necessary to have faith in his Father and to demonstrate in his life and in his death that he “esteemed all God’s precepts concerning all things to the right”, so that Paul could quote Jesus as the Son whom God had set forth as a propitiation and as the declarer of the Divine righteousness which from the beginning had demanded the death of the sinner. It was necessary for Jesus to hope that at the appointed time and by the appointed way he would sit “at his Father’s right hand”. “For the joy set before him he endured all things”. He certainly did not vaunt himself; on the contrary, “he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant”. He never failed and displayed to the full those nine graces listed as the “fruit of the spirit”.
When we look at God’s son we are most conscious of our own individual failings and of stumbling blocks in our path. We find it very difficult to have the love that can “pray for our enemies”, or to share with God that “perfection” that sends the “sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”. The enemy, whoever or whatever it may be, is so ugly and so much an unbeliever we find it almost impossible to even think of loving! These are some of the weeds that choke the full growth of spirit-fruit; and like many weeds they are difficult to eradicate.
We must look of God and to that “perfection” which was in his Son: in this we must follow the examples. Where we cannot-and indeed we must not-love the evil we can often succeed by “leading”: leading away from the evil towards the good. If the enemy will not follow us, the responsibility rests upon him; we have done our part. God ‘is calling every hour, but if men will not hear the great loss is theirs. Jesus called with words of grace and love to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”. They not only refused to hear, but crucified him! Yet, even here, we see love triumphant in one Who could cry out, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do”.
The secret of love is the secret of giving. “God so loved the world that he gave—Christ loved the ecclesia and gave himself for it—God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us—He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, ‘how shall he not with him freely give us all things.
If we feel we want to start afresh or renew our love of God and of His son, let us have a look into our attic and into our cellar. Here we shall find some things we can “afford” to give away. When these “somethings” (we know them in our heart) have gone we shall feel anew and afresh that indwelling of God, which is love. We shall experience the state of spiritual-mindedness of which Jesus spoke, “We will come unto him and make our abode with him”.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay