The Greatest Thing in the World - 06

Drummond finishes his short book on love with a sobering thought. He says, "You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments that stand out, the moments when you have really lived, are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love." He makes the point that we cannot know God and not know love. And that those who withhold love from others, never really knew God. He says, "The withholding of love is the negation of the spirit of Christ, the proof that we never knew him, that for us He lived in vain." 

I would agree with Drummond. God's love is like his Word, it is incapable of returning void or not bearing fruit, but both are capable of remain as they are if they are not received. The seed must find good soil to grow. God's love is reaching out to all humanity looking for good soil. 

Where I agree with Drummond in definition, I may differ slightly in practice. We know not what the Holy Spirit can do in the inner depths of a man's soul. A man can be hard on the outside while breaking on the inside. Could there be just one moment when he allows himself to feel God's love reaching out in the darkness? Would he dare to touch that love and allow himself to feel its warmth and healing presence? Doesn't every moment count? Doesn't God know every moment, and doesn't he delight in seeing his love find those open moment? I think he does. How can we say that moment doesn't change another person's life? Maybe this broken man, having been touched for a moment by God's love, hold back an unkind word or turns from anger where he would not have done so before. 

The seed falls into the ground and dies, and we know not what happens there in the dark. But one day, the small green shoot emerges. I do believe that we can know God and resist his love. We can choose to not allow his love to flow out toward others. I think that is something we will all be held accountable for and one day weep at the loss of opportunity and harvest that might have come from such a great love being freely shared. Love truly is the greatest thing in this world and in the next.

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