Sunday, August 06, 2006

A Wonder: Unselfish Love

Anyone who knows the reality of Unselfish Love understands something of the true all-loving Creator. For example, what led me to knowing God was the Unselfish Love shown by America's forefathers in building and preserving government meant to secure the Creator-given equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Unselfish Love like that, love willing to give up treasure, and life itself for the sake of others is itself a miracle and a small potential proof of God's nature, as America's actual history was for me.

Anyone who knows of Unselfish Love already has proof, but deniable proof, that the all-loving Creator exists and always gives us a way to find Him. Because
we humans are so awfully flawed yet He is pure Righteousness and Justice, such proof must be deniable so we may choose to persist in blindly worshipping less than Him.

But what is Unselfish Love then? From the Apostle Paul:

(2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

2 Corinthians 13:2-7 New International Version
Notice verse 2 means there is no secret mystery, knowledge, or mere belief in a story with lasting power. Also verse 3 says there is no secret prayer, holy ritual, nor good deeds with lasting power. Without love toward God Himself, we are nothing and we can do nothing to gain God's favor.

Those who claim to have secret power or to do anything that gains God's favor do not know the real God of the Scriptures no matter what they may convince themselves or say aloud. By other Scriptures (such as Matthew 23:5-11), such religionists / false teachers seek to exploit those who foolishly worship god-like power for themselves, like Adam and Eve did (Genesis 3:4-5).

Every time one of us worships a lie about lasting powers we might gain, we are giving this world to the same false god Adam and Eve believed instead of the Creator (Genesis 3:1-6). In that way we help poison this world. Adults have seen far more of the evils due to that sin poisoning, and so children are more likely to trust in and find God as He really is. Adults are instead more likely to deny the nature of God, to give up on a loving Creator or hope in foolish schemes to magically control Him.

Publishing upon Love was on my mind, when tonight by "accident" on my new iPod I played a favorite song about Unselfish Love...
We can entertain compassion
For a world in need of care,
But the road of good intentions
Doesn't lead to anywhere
'Cause love isn't love
'Til you give it away
You gotta give it away

Love is like a river
Flowing down from the Giver of life
We drink from the water
And our thirst is no longer denied
You gotta give it away

There was a man who walked on water
He came to set the people free
He was the ultimate example
Of what love can truly be
'Cause His love was His life
And He gave it away
You gotta give it away

Michael W. Smith, "Give It Away"