Love
After an insight I had where I saw God everywhere I looked, I had love for everyone.
When Jesus was asked,
“Which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).
John wrote,
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manitested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:7–12).
And Paul wrote,
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“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:8–10).
Before I had this insight, I was drawn to learn about folks who had great love for God.
Rabia of Basra was one of them.
All of her writings touched me, but there was one poem in particular that I couldn’t get out of my head.
She wrote,
“If I love you out of fear of hell, then throw me in hell.
If I worship you out of desire for Paradise, then lock its doors.
But if I worship you out of love for You alone, then do not deprive me of your everlasting beauty.”
Our love for both God and for each other must arise from a desire to love, not from any expectation of either reward or penalty.
I love you.
