Power of Love

I have been preoccupied with many things lately: lived life, practical solutions to inner needs, a health scare, slow recovery of a wounded soul, the silence of God - or the deafness of man; longing to speak, but finding no words.

It is painful to see loved ones suffer. “ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (I Cor.13)

Yes, love endures all things, it hopes, it is a power in the present and also into the future. It bars the consuming suction of fear. In itself it is strong, but the source is divine love, a well of eternal strength to endure anything life throws on you. In this blog I have one principle: I do not talk about other people, unless I have cleared it with them. But the life lessons which I gain from in connection with others, those I may share.

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future

And life is worth the living

Just because He lives.”

This is a chorus from a song I came across many years ago, but it stays with me, and we sing it with confidence in the living room. We sing together, with loud voices. Don’t worry – we are in tune.

Is my busy-ness in needing to find plausible practical solutions an exertion of my own strength? Does it negate the dependence on God? Do I tell God what I think is a good idea, or do I wait for Him? In essence I think my idea about opening a store in town, which would provide a job-option of the practical kind, is from God. I do not call it a revelation, but a sudden quick moment, where I saw a reasonable solution to what I had prayed about. I am no business-person, have no interest in profit; the endeavor needs to pay for itself and at least one employee, but the driving force for me is simply love.

We have made another discovery: pietism without love is lethal.

Paul says clearly in the opening stanzas of 1. Cor 13:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

If our Christian life is a moralism without the relationship to God in his son, Jesus, we are as doomed to destruction as any deviant sinner. If we strive to please God with our deeds, but lack love, we are on a path to self-destruction.

                                                                                                                                                           What are the two bearing principles of life in the Scriptures?

Love the Lord, your God with all your strength, mind, might; and love your neighbour as yourself. Ponder this.

If I walk in a fog, and cannot see day approaching, My Shepherd is there to lead, because He loves.