I recently read an article online entitled ‘Are You in Love?’( http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=166298). Whilst I agree totally with
articles’ intent, which was clearly to encourage people into a deeper
relationship with our loving Heavenly Father, there was a rather critical tone
to some of its content and so I felt that I would like examine the same subject
from a differen angle.
Are you in love? What a splendid question! A
question that is of course very appropriate not only for the month of February
when I first read the article and in which
many people celebrate Valentine’s Day, but also a good question to ask at any
time of the year. In the context of Christianity though, the question needs to
be a little bit bigger and perhaps would have been better phrased ‘What does it
mean to love God?’ It is unfortunate in
our modern society in which equality for all, irrespective of age, gender, race
etc rightfully plays such an increasingly important role, that the article
suggested that Christians should ‘submit to God like a wife submits to her
husband.’ The author of the article, in using human relationships as a
comparison makes a point that is completely irrelevant in our modern era. I am
reminded that the marriage vows no longer require the woman to ‘love, cherish
and obey’ her husband. A true loving
relationship on human terms is not about domination, control and subservience,
but about equality and partnership.
In asking ‘Are you in love?’ Perhaps we should also
ask ‘What is love?’ Certainly the most important commandment, as Jesus said is
to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all
your strength”. The implications of this are enormous and they certainly do not
include criticising those who come to church to offer their worship and making
judgements about the sincerity of those who attend church services even if the intent is to encourage a greater and more active involvement in church services.
What does it mean to love God? Well, as I see it,
love for God cannot be easily compared or paralleled with love on a human level
in terms of our relationships. Whilst the analogy is there in the New Testament,
unfortunately, like all analogies, it breaks down a little if it is stretched
too far. The love of which the bible speaks is primarily about sacrifice....
the relinquishing of self in the service of God. This has nothing to do with
the emotions and hormones which drive our physical attraction to other human
beings and are the catalyst for the development of loving relationships between
two people causing them to fall ‘madly in love’. If someone were to tell me
that they are ‘madly in love with God’ I would think them to be a little bit
odd. In contrast to this, if someone were to speak of being ‘totally devoted to
God’ I find that this is a much more appropriate and reverent approach to our
relationship with God... and whilst emotion and fervour can play a huge part in
this, these things are very transient and can change according to our moods and
circumstances.
True love of God is ‘sacrificial’ in nature. It is
about putting ourselves in His hands and yielding ourselves to him. St Paul in
the New Testament frequently refers to himself and other Christians as
‘servants of God’. This is what we should strive to be and it is expressed not
just in the singing of hymns and ‘acts of worship’ in which we participate in
our church services, but in the way in which we serve each other and the
community around us.
The wonderful thing is though, that Jesus perfectly
exemplifies this servant attitude... as he said of himself, ‘The Son of Man did
not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many’
(Matthew 20v28). He is the example we should follow, giving ourselves to God
and to our fellow human beings. As St Paul writes in Romans 12v1 ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers and
sisters, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.’
Blessings
Carl.
