You
will recall, that in Genesis 3 the last comment by the serpent before Eve decided
to take the forbidden fruit was; “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
That sentence by itself is loaded with
discussion starters. As we know, Eve’s
plan to become God-like did not play out as she expected. That desire to be like God has never left
us. Created in His image and His being
our Father draws us to be like Him. We
still want to be like God-to play God.
Virtually all the problems in the world are a result of our trying to be
like God and doing such a poor job of it.
The
problem is not that we want to be like God.
The problem is that we are trying to do so in the wrong way. We can be like God; indeed we ought to and
should try to be like God, but in one specific way. When we love, we most resemble our heavenly
Father. Now, before you imagine this
will be another sappy devotion about the wonderful, gushing, feeling of love,
hold on to your theological horses.
First Corinthians thirteen is decidedly the least romantic passage
written about love in all of literature, sacred or secular!
Agape
is completely, absolutely, and eternally disconnected from the worth, the
value, or the desirability of the beloved.
The object of this love is, as far as lover is concerned, without
merit. The one being loved can make no
claims on the love of the lover whatsoever.
That is why the serial pedophile is as much an object of God’s love as
the faithful, saintly, prayer warrior.
That is why you and I stand in the same position as a suicide bomber who
is planning to attack a day care full of toddlers. The dedicated mother who sacrifices so much
of herself, her energy and her dreams for the benefit of ungrateful toddlers
and a distracted husband can make no greater claim on the Agape of God than the
street thugs that gang rape innocent girls.
At this moment, Glen Rogers, aka the Casanova Killer, waits his turn on
death row here in FL. Glen, at one time,
claimed to have killed 80 women. In
terms of merit, Glen and I have the exact same claim on God’s love.
Here
is how we can be like God. We can love
without the consideration of merit. But,
like all the great teachings of the Christian faith, the rub comes with the
application. Here is what I see in my
life and in some of the Christians around me-a distinct absence of meritless
love. I see that both liberal and
conservatives are hateful in their speech about the other side. I see those on the left who demand tolerance
passionately intolerant and I see those on the right who would make claims
about grace being ungracious. I see that
in response to the hate we see in some Muslims, a few Christians want to engage
in a crusade that offers what might be called a final solution. I see that rivals are enemies to be destroyed
in the most literal sense of the word. I
see growing polarization not viewed as a problem to be overcome, but rather, a
dividing line to be exploited. I see
this and other anti-agape attitudes and dispositions in my journal, mirror and
own heart.
I
understand the importance of law and order, the danger of not confusing good
and evil, and in giving into empty-headed sentimentality of singing Kum-Ba-Yah
around a campfire and thinking that is enough.
Agape is not soft, simple naivety.
One
thing Agape is, it is deeply personal.
It is not mandated by law, proposed by council or instituted via
education. It is radically individual
and deeply personal. It is the
confrontation that I am not like God in that I do not love. In the one way I
can be most God-like, I am very unlike God.
When my life and faith are marked by the absence of love, I could speak
the language of the courts of heaven and it would be a one-note song played on
a tin can. If I do not love without merit, I could be so
inspired that I could write the 67th book of the Bible and I would
be a zero. In the absence of Agape, I could
be be-headed by Isis while preaching the gospel and it would do me no good.
Lord,
help me to love.
Help
me to be like You.
No comments:
Post a Comment