What is love? Can it be defined within the sphere of emotions, or is love something that rests on a more secure foundation than good feelings? And what does it mean that God is love? Do I have love or am I love? Can I muster up love when circumstances demand love, or is love beyond self-effort? Can I for instance recognize love by faith?
The answer to almost all of our questions is found in God’s declaration: “I will!”, or hearing Him say “Let us make man in our image.” That is love. It is the Fire-Self becoming light when it “chose” to become for others. This means that love is something far greater than emotions, but it doesn’t exclude emotions like the parable of the prodigal son demonstrates.
If love is an is-thing than I do not have love, but I am love because God is joined one Spirit with me, and, not least, because it is He who works in me to will and do after His good pleasure. It is He who says as me: I will! Since I cannot judge love based on emotions, love must be recognized in faith as seeing God in everything working forth His eternal purposes in all things. In the instant I say that I also understand that love is beyond appearances. Love simply defies judgment on human terms.
I hear all those calls to love almost everywhere I turn, but I have become deaf to those calls. I have learned the hard way that I cannot muster up a grain of love by self effort. This thing most of us call love, is human “love”, and it tastes like honey in our mouth, but it will turn sour in our stomachs.
However, Divine love wells up from our innermost being as a refreshing river that manifests its purposes of love spontaneously as us in everything. Love is thus resting in faith that we can do nothing of ourselves, and that it is He who does the works, and not to mention; I do only what I see my Father is doing.
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