To be a follower of Christ, the Lord asks us to totally surrender our lives to Him and be willing to accept whatever that means or where He leads us. It is so hard. That’s why most people only give their lives to Him when they have exhausted all other options, and their lives are in shambles. I was one of those people. By the time I’d made a complete train wreck of my life, I didn’t have much to give God, but I gave the shards of my broken life to Him. He accepted me.
I could not fathom such love as what I experienced with that life-changing first encounter with Christ, on a cold Canadian January night in 1980. The warmth of His love took over my heart that was as cold as the frost on the windows,[2] My soul was filled to its brim and overflowing with a warm flood of His love and forgiveness of me and my litany of sin. I thought I would burst with divine ecstasy! It was (and remains) the same love experienced by billions of people throughout the centuries. Saint Clement 1 (35-99 AD) said,
“Who can express the binding power of divine love? Who can find words for the splendor of its beauty? Beyond all description are the heights to which it lifts us. Love unites us to God,”.
There it was in the first century—unmistakable divine love of God, its beauty and power beyond description. I wept with primordial joy that existed, not from my birth, but eons before I was created in my mother’s womb. Is that the binding power of love Saint Clement wrote about? It create a bond not bound by time or place.
Love for God and our neighbour is incomplete and faltering, at times halting, at times gushing, but always falling short of perfect love of Christ. Perhaps that is because we are incapable in our present state of experiencing the truest love of all: God. That will only be experienced in eternity.
True love has certain characteristics. Saint Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 13. Saint Clement also addressed authentic love:
“[I]t cancels innumerable sins, has no limit to its endurance, bears everything patiently. Love is neither serval nor arrogant. It does not provoke schisms or formed cliques, but always acts in harmony with others.”
Pretty daunting with flawed human capabilities. Saint Clement said it cannot be without Christ.
“By it all God's chosen ones have been sanctified; without it, it is simply impossible to please Him. Out of love the Lord took us to Himself because He loved us and it was God's will, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life's blood for us — He gave His body for our body, His soul for our soul.”
Therein lies the key to our ability to truly love our spouse, our children, our neighbour, our community, and our nation, but most of all to love God with all our heart mind and soul. Without Christ it is impossible. The light of His sublime Love will envelope His people forever.
Mark
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