Dear God, graciously assist me in putting the thoughts into writing. By Thy graces, I do not desire to mislead anyone or cause anyone to displease Thine in any manner. I beseech Thine help on this. With Thy Love... Amen.
Dear reader, as always, if you read, please submit everything to our Lord, so that He enlightens everything that is necessary and removes everything that is not necessary for you.
Love and God's Law
In the letter to Romans, St. Paul mentions the following - Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. For he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law. ... The love of our neighbour worketh no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law... [Romans: Chapter 13, 8-10]For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [Galatians 5:14]
The fruit of the Spirit is Love, etc. [Galatians 5:22];
But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law [Galatians 5:18].
Don't the above verses imply the following?
The degree of the Love of God in a person determines the degree of the fulfillment of God's law in that person.
Similarly, the degree of being led by the Holy Spirit determines the degree of being not falling under God's law.
The story of Pharisee and the Tax collector [Refer Luke 18] depicts a related picture. The pharisee's mind, although proud and all, is on just following the law as a mere duty. However, the tax collector is repenting? Who, other than the one who has the love of God, would repent for what they have done? If you do not love someone, would you then truthfully repent for what you have done to hurt the beloved?
We all see who is more justified in the end [Refer Luke 18:14].
Doesn't what our Lord Jesus said imply "Love is the fulfilling of the law?"
If one hurts his or her lover or the beloved, wouldn't he or she be quick and feel pressing to feel sorry for what he or she has done? See how the woman, who lived a sinful life, act with Jesus [Luke 7:37-38]?
At the same time, if the one who is in love and got hurt by his or her beloved, wouldn't he or she be quick to overlook or forgive the repenting lover or the beloved? Once forgiven, will the deed that is forgiven be kept in the accounts?
Similarly in the parable of the prodigal son, we see the same thing [Refer Luke 15]. In Luke 15:20, we see the behavior of the father who loves his son. He does not wait until his son comes and asks sorry. If you were the father, could you and would you wait for his words of repentance?
Look and meditate on what has been said in the bible: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.". So the love of the father outruns the action of the love that is in his son. In 1 Corinthians 13:5, Doesn't St. Paul say the following: Love does not dishonor others, Love is not self-seeking... Love keeps no record of wrongs. Does the father talk any rules or is his heart thinking about punishing?
How can one, being a lover, judge his or her own beloved? That is why, even the worldly judicial system does not favor or even not allow a judge to proceed if the concerned party is a relative in any manner to the defendant.
God does not desire to punish us, does not desire our oppression or affliction
From Bible, we can also see that the objective of God is not to punish or torture us. This is because He is love, He loves us beyond our imagination.From Isiah chapter 58, we see that God is primarily not desiring or preferring people to fast and "humble", especially in order to fulfilling their own will and or their own selfish reasons. It also appears to me that God would not desire His own creations, that He love, to go through such difficult things especially when they are not for the sake of love. His Love in us seems to be the key. So, instead of fasting like such, God would rather want them to do charity. Please read the words below for our meditation:
Is not this rather the fast that I have chosen? loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh.
Isn't fasting practiced mostly to sacrifice food and pleasure, in order to do penance or to favor rigorous spiritual praying?
Isn't Charity then a true sacrifice, of anything, that solely results out of and for the love of God?
From the above words, so many things are clear.
- God does not like to see anyone oppressed, or hunger, or burdened, or homeless, etc. God loves everyone. So in His Love, He does not like to see His beloved suffer.
- On the other hand, we see that, only out of true love, a human can help others in this manner.
- Wouldn't the beloved, who is loved by God, desire and do what is the will of his or her lover? So God wants us to do what He pleases
Other related thoughts
Moreover, we are all potentially wrongdoing people. By Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice of the God in Love, those who are or would be saved are saved. So what chance we have without through this Sacrificial Spotless Love?Shall we rather think of standing in front of God and justify ourselves by the law? For those who deny (or fail to gracefully accept) the spirituality of a human being, they might get closer to think this way, by claiming they have not done anything wrong to anyone.
God sees the heart (, which is invisible to the material world) and its thoughts naked. We can hide our thoughts from the outside world and feel safe, comfortable, good and honored, but certainly not with God. [Refer 1 Samuel 16:7, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Jeremiah 23:24, Hebrews 4:13].
If you have doubts on the nature of your mind and/or heart, choose any day and please note down your thoughts, the locations and objects where your eyes look, talks that your ears like to hear, etc.
Being who we are, even with what we know of ourselves, it is well fitting to say that it is impossible to go to our God by law. [Refer the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18]. So let us (hide our humanity and) fill and clothe ourselves in Love, all the moments of our life as much as possible, as God commands it [Refer Deuteronomy 6 & Mathew 22:37]. Therefore, our only chance is to yield to, and submit our actions and everything in, His merciful Love.
Let us not just live here on this earth just because we are born Christians or just because we enjoy reading and learning Bible or just because we can do miracles in our Lord Jesus's name, etc. Then we would be speechless in finding out what our Lord has to say in the end [Refer Mathew 7:23].
Aren't we the brides engaged to our Lord Jesus the bridegroom and eagerly waiting for His arrival? What good or value is there in the waiting of the bride for the bridegroom if there is no love that is continuously burning? [Refer Mathew 22:12]. In Mathew chapter 7, our Lord was referring to a narrow gate. Thus our Lord says, if we want to know who is who, it is by the fruits or the deeds. True Love would not block any sacrifice that is (becomes) necessary, whereas self love cannot and prefer not to sacrifice any.
As the (ungodly) world is ruled by the evil spirits (John 12:31, John 14:30, Ephesians 2:2, 2 Cor. 4:4, 1 John 5:19, Ephesians 6:12), one who loves God or loves the neighbor for the sake of His Love, naturally will not have easy wide path life. Because the ruler of this ungodly world will see to it that the God's beloved would not get by with their love easily.
More the intimacy of one's "spiritual" relationship with God, easier and simpler it gets for one to joyfully be in His Love. In other words, more the intimacy of one's relationship with the "material" world, tougher and more complicated it gets for one to walk in the Love of God.
Best wishes to you
Alleluia
