THE WILL TO LOVE - Vital Christianity

30We can only love to the degree to which we have experienced love:“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she lovedmuch. But he who has been forgiven little loves little” (Lk 7:36-50).Love is experienced in direct proportion to how much we don’t deserve it. In fact,love in response to goodness is not love; it is reward. This is why the moral, ethical, religiousperson is typically the hardest to reach.Our love for God and our love for others are directly connected. As Christians, wemust put Christ’s love to work in our lives. This does not mean that we will have fuzzy, warmfeelings toward everyone. Contrary to the message of Hollywood, feelings are neither thebeginning nor the center of Christian love. Love and romance—love and affection—are notnecessarily the same.LOVE IS A VERBLove is a verb. Love is a decision. We decide to love others by doing for others whatGod has done for us. In practical terms this means that we learn to accept others with all theirfaults and failures as God has accepted us—accepting them even when we cannot approve whatthey do. Just as God has met our deepest and most basic needs through Jesus Christ, we need tocome alongside people and stick with them through thick and thin. After all, is that not what Godhas done for us?Total acceptance and patient support are ingredients of Christian love that assure usthat God really loves us. And this sets us free to love. Paul urged the Corinthians to make lovetheir aim. So he writes at length about the Holy Communion (Eucharist—1 Co 11) as a chief wayof remembering constantly God’s greatest act of love toward us in Jesus Christ.To many people the cross is merely a symbol that crowning our church buildings or apendant around our necks, but for many of us it is much more than that. It is the reality offorgiveness, peace and joy which comes from what Christ accomplished on the cross. It is herethat we find the answer to the problem of sin. It is here that our lives are changed.APPLICATIONThis transforming change is available to all! God’s love is as real today as it was twothousand years ago when Jesus died on the cross. All we have to do is accept it and share it.