|
So then in the beginning man loves God, not for
God's sake, but for his own. It is something for him
to know how little he can do by himself and how much
by God's help, and in that knowledge to order
himself rightly towards God, his sure support.
But when tribulations, recurring again and again,
constrain him to turn to God for unfailing help,
would not even a heart as hard as iron, as cold as
marble, be softened by the goodness of such a
Savior, so that he would love God not altogether
selfishly, but because He is God? Let frequent
troubles drive us to frequent supplications; and
surely, tasting, we must see how gracious the Lord
is (Ps. 34.8). Thereupon His goodness once realized
draws us to love Him unselfishly, yet more than our
own needs impel us to love Him selfishly: even as
the Samaritans told the woman who announced that it
was Christ who was at the well: 'Now we believe, not
because of thy saying: for we have heard Him
ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ,
the savior of the world' (John 4.42).
We likewise bear the same witness to our own
fleshly nature, saying, 'No longer do we love God
because of our necessity, but because we have tasted
and seen how gracious the Lord is'. Our temporal
wants have a speech of their own, proclaiming the
benefits they have received from God's favor. Once
this is recognized it will not be hard to fulfill
the commandment touching love to our neighbors; for
whosoever loves God aright loves all God's
creatures. Such love is pure, and finds no burden in
the precept bidding us purify our souls, in obeying
the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of
the brethren (I Peter 1.22).
Loving as he ought, he counts that command only
just. Such love is thankworthy, since it is
spontaneous; pure, since it is shown not in word nor
tongue, but in deed and truth (I John 3.18); just,
since it repays what it has received. Whoso loves in
this fashion, loves even as he is loved, and seeks
no more his own but the things which are Christ's,
even as Jesus sought not His own welfare, but ours,
or rather ourselves. Such was the psalmist's love
when he sang: 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He
is gracious' (Ps. 118.1). Whosoever praises God for
His essential goodness, and not merely because of
the benefits He has bestowed, does really love God
for God's sake, and not selfishly. The psalmist was
not speaking of such love when he said: 'So long as
thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of
thee'(Ps. 49.18).
The third degree of love, we have now seen, is to
love God on His own account, solely because He is
God. |