In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.
John, Chapter 14, Verse 21-24
21 Whoever has my
commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves
me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal
myself to him.” 22
Judas,
not the Iscariot, said to him,
“Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to
the world?” 23 Jesus answered
and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will
love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. 24 Whoever does not
love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that
of the Father who sent me.
This is the indwelling of the Father and the Son, when we have this we
reflect our own perfected beauty. Think of a beauty queen and compare it to the
face of mother Teresa; which portraits beauty more? When we have the indwelling
the truth is never far from us; think of Thomas More and when we have the
indwelling we have joy and our earthly work is not a burden but light. If you
are not happy perhaps you should reflect are you observing Christ commandments?
First seek the kingdom and all grace will be added to you. When we have the
indwelling the spirit compels us to acts of mercy. The traditional enumeration
of the corporal works of mercy is as follows:
- To
feed the hungry;
- To
give drink to the thirsty;
- To
clothe the naked;
- To
harbor the harborless;
- To
visit the sick;
- To
ransom the captive;
- To
bury the dead.
- To
instruct the ignorant;
- To
counsel the doubtful;
- To
admonish
sinners;
- To
bear wrongs patiently;
- To
forgive offences willingly;
- To
comfort the afflicted;
- To
pray
for the living and the dead.
In a sense when we have the indwelling
we are like Mary the great mother of God and are compelled to acts of mercy;
they are not just a list but a way of being.
Paul’s list ends with four phrases containing the words “all things”. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Here we see clearly the counter cultural power of a love that is able to face whatever might threaten it. This is about more than simply putting up with evil; it has to do with the use of the tongue. The holding one’s peace” about what may be wrong with another person. Limiting judgment, checking the impulse to issue a firm and ruthless condemnation: “Judge not and you will not be judged.” Although it runs contrary to the way we normally use our tongues, God’s word tells us: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters” (Jas 4:11). Being willing to speak ill of another person is a way of asserting ourselves, venting resentment and envy without concern for the harm we may do. We often forget that slander can be quite sinful; it is a grave offense against God when it seriously harms another person’s good name and causes damage that is hard to repair. Hence God’s word forthrightly states that the tongue “is a world of iniquity” that “stains the whole body” (Jas 3:6); it is a “restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8). Whereas the tongue can be used to “curse those who are made in the likeness of God,” love cherishes the good name of others, even one’s enemies.
Married couples joined by love speak well of each other; they try to show their spouse’s good side, not their weakness and faults. In any event, they keep silent rather than speak ill of them. This is not merely a way of acting in front of others; it springs from an interior attitude. Far from ingenuously claiming not to see the problems and weaknesses of others, it sees those weaknesses and faults in a wider context. It recognizes that these failings are a part of a bigger picture. We have to realize that all of us are a complex mixture of light and shadows. The other person is much more than the sum of the little things that annoy me. Love does not have to be perfect for us to value it. The other person loves me as best they can, with all their limits, but the fact that love is imperfect does not mean that it is untrue or unreal. It is real, albeit limited and earthly. If I expect too much, the other person will let me know, for he or she can neither play God nor serve all my needs. Love coexists with imperfection. It “bears all things” and can hold its peace before the limitations of the loved one.
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