Today we are going to begin a study of the love of God, much of what we will cover is inspired by Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard is an interesting character, not only for his theological writings, but from his prominent role in world affairs in the 12th century. While there are plenty of opportunities to criticize this abbot, our present discussion will primarily consider the points that he brings out in his discourse On loving God.
All Christians must contemplate loving God, it is the basis of our faith and encapsulates the divine law of God. But often, our thoughts on loving God come across in a generic, almost superficial way. After all, it’s hard to wrap our minds around the concept that God is love and we are to exemplify him in his love-nature. How can we do that as sinful creatures? Bernard suggests that we start by considering who we are in our own nature; this is indeed a biblical concept. For example, the Bible tells us that a man is to “love his wife as his own flesh, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished, even as the Lord the church” (Ephesians 5:28).
Most of the time, when we quote this verse, we are primarily thinking of its application in marriage or as an analogy to understand God‘s love for the church. But while these considerations are certainly the primary subject of the verse, we often skip over the second part that tells us that “no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourish and cherish it…”
It is natural for us to have love for ourselves and that’s Bernards first point. He would call this the first degree of love – it’s a selfish love. It’s a love for myself for my own sake. The creature loves itself because it is its nature to do so. this is a very carnal form of love, indeed we might be tempted to call it a lack of love. But as Ephesians 5:28 reminds us, this should be our starting point in understanding love, because we were all born as creatures made in the image of God. Therefore we desire the best for ourselves. I must here mention that in our society, love of self is almost certainly overdone and manifests itself as sheer selfishness. Nevertheless, if we want a biblical view of love, we do need to understand that it’s a valid starting place in our love journey with God.
Another verse that drives this home, is Mark 12:31, Jesus is speaking and he says “ And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself there is none other commandment greater than these.” here we tend to rightly focus as Christians on the aspect of loving our neighbors, but Jesus didn’t just say Love thy neighbor” he adds an important concept in this verse. He says love your neighbor as you love yourself so even in loving our neighbor there is a purpose behind it and it starts with loving oneself. While this is a clear biblical principle, it does not follow that love of oneself is a high-point of love. Indeed, Bernard would have made it clear that it’s a very carnal and natural affection, but nevertheless, it is where we all start.
If we think deeply about this concept, we probably all know some people who have trouble loving themself. Just think of that in terms of Mark 12:31- if you do not love yourself then how could you follow his law to love your neighbor? Jesus is demanding loving your neighbor as you love yourself. If someone refuses to love oneself, then what kind of Christian love of neighbor could possibly exist? It’s impossible according to Jesus so sometimes it is worth considering, do we love ourselves in the way that God expects us to? If we refuse this most basic requirement, then we can’t love God, and we cannot be used of God to love others. This is not to indulge our own desires in our own lust at the expense of other people, on the contrary this is a call for us to reflect on where the love of God begins.
For the human race, it began a long time ago in the garden of Eden, when God breathed into the nostrils of his own creation and man became a living soul. As a result of this act of love from the immortal God, every human since then has an innate desire to care for herself. As Christians we must recapture the natural love that God bestowed on his creation and allow his perfect love to being its work. The question for today is how are we doing? Are we following God in his love for us? Or are we allowing our disappointments, or our perceived failures to rob us of the love that God himself instills? If so, there is no time like now to begin. Acknowledge that the deceiver has no right to destroy that which God has forgiven, then go out in the boldness and light of Christ’s love to deliver the same message of God’s love to another person.
In this context, we must also consider our attitude toward others. The same love God gives to us, he imparts to every child of Adam. Do we treat others with this respect? How can we dare to look down on another person who bears God’s image? If we truly understand the source of our love, this should be impossible. If a closer look at our thoughts reveals to us that we are not consistent on this point, today’s message is a call to repentance. May we love God and others as we love ourselves.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 13:34
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