What God
wants from us – far more than ritual or material offerings, is the gift of
love; after all, we’re made in God’s own image and likeness and God is love (1
John 4:8). While it’s not possible for
us to fully describe God, we learn of God’s nature and deepest desires from
Jesus words, lived example and witness to us.
Looking at
our lives through this lens, we can understand that the essence of God’s life
is relationship. This deep reality is embedded in creation itself (witnessed
even at a subatomic level where matter becomes particles in relationship to
each other) and seen in all life that we know (patterns of relationship in
nature and the environment and most clearly in the human person).
We are
relational beings, made for communion with one another. In the vision of Jesus this relational circle
is widened to incorporate our relationship with God.
To live a
life committed to others and to their care, to exercise a nurturing stewardship
of the earth, to seek to go beyond ourselves not just in exploration but in
sacrificial loving of another – all this is but expression of the innate desire
to form union that God has placed within us.
For Jesus to
speak of loving with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and
strength (Mark
12:28-34) is for Him to name the spectrum of human capacity and to suggest we
orient our entire being towards love of God and others.
Jesus knows
too that God extends love to us in the same way. God’s love for us is likewise a total gift of
self to us. God’s love is endless,
forgiving, nurturing, sacrificial and conveys joy and grace in abundance.
We’re
attracted to this love at our deepest levels. While some don’t see the source and creator of
such love and don’t acknowledge God, they nevertheless experience the warmth of
God’s love (and thus God’s presence) in the world. Our task then is to be the conduit of God’s
love as it seeps into human environment. When we love our neighbor, we share in the
mission of God in our world – a mission revealed by Jesus and continued under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
This is the
reign of God. Let’s not live far from
it.
No comments:
Post a Comment