October 26, 1996
Dear Br. Carl:
The Lord loves you, never doubt that. He doesn’t always like what we do, say, or think, but He has great affection for us.
What do I mean when I say He loves you? What is God’s love
like? First, it is not sentimental or emotional. He does have
feelings and emotions, but His ardor is not based on emotions,
rather, it is based on principal. Feelings often compel us to
do or say things that are not proper or not to do or say those
things that we ought to do or say. (That last sentence is a bit
redundant, but you get the point.) Human affection is fickle,
often dependent on what we can obtain from the object or person
we love. That’s why men often adore beautiful women and why
we tend to respect those people we think will benefit us in some
fashion. If someone is not beautiful, talented, influential, or
wealthy, or if we think they can not help us, we have no desire
for them or for their company. Often, those men who marry a woman,
for her beauty, will leave her when it fades as she ages. Those
men, who have found something other then beauty upon which to
sustain a relationship, will remain married throughout life to
the same woman.
But God does not love in this fashion. His devotion is not selfish
or self-seeking. He gives value to those whom He cherishes, where
there is no merit. He imparts worth to those whom He loves. Through
the act of being esteemed by God, we increase in importance and
moral value. It is as if His love imparts something of quality
to us rather then seeking something of value from us. He gives
rather then takes. He bestows riches rather then seeks them. He
gives beauty where there is ugliness. He imparts purity where
all is impure and corruption. He smiles and fills the air with
radiance where there are frowns and darkness. He gives life where
there is death.
God’s affection is selfless and self-sacrificing. He cherishes
us because He is love. He can’t help himself. He can’t
stop adoring, for to do so would be to stop being God, to cease
to exist, to be eternally nonexistent. It is His nature and character
to love, for He is love, the very embodiment of devotion.
Because we are created in His image, He desires us to reflect
to others this same type of self-sacrificing passion which is
called Agape. He placed within each of us the capacity to receive
from Him this ardor and to impart it to others. As He loves us,
so we are to cherish others. But many say it is impossible for
us to adore sinners in this fashion. Why! If we are made in His
image, then why can’t we love, for, just as He is passionate
in His affections, so we, who are made in His image, can share
the same divine attachment. If we fail to love, then we call Him
a liar by our conduct or attitudes.
The essence of such divine passion is to consider others first
and ourselves last. Humanly speaking, this is impossible, but
through Christ it is not only possible, it is impossible not to
agape in this fashion, if we believe that we are formed in the
image of Christ. Believing that we are created in His image, then
to do otherwise is to affirm that we are truly born of the Devil,
for he does not share Christ’s attributes, having sacrificed
them in the innocence and joy of heaven because of his jealousy
and hatred of Christ.
Here is a mystery. How can a man, created in the image of God
with the capacity to love as God loves, become a Devil or one
of his accomplices? Perhaps eternity will never fully reveal this
mystery. Perhaps there is no answer. But Christ can transform
the heart and life given over to hate and selfishness back into
harmony with His character, if we desire it.
What a joy it must be to the angels to see a man, created with
the capacity to love, recreated from an evil heart and conscience
back into God’s original creation. Here is an unparalleled
act of creation. To reclaim a brother or sister from moral corruption
and make something good of them is worthy of praise and honor
to God the Father and to His son, Jesus Christ. Carl, Christ has
a wonderful destiny awaiting you, both on this earth and in heaven.
I have every confidence in you that you will adore your brothers
and sisters as Christ cherishes you. Be true to your God-given
nature and resolve today to forsake your carnal nature, and through
His grace, to reclaim your original birthright. Be zealous to
be all the man that God intended. Be strong to do the right because
it is right. Remember, “I can do all things through Christ
which strengthens me.” It is Christ, working in and through
you, who will love others, if you let Him. Get out of the way,
let Carl die and be buried that Christ may live in you. Put away
self-interest and seek not your own pleasure or interests. If
you are dead, then you won’t notice the slights or insults
that your brothers may send your way. Rather then returning insult
for insult, slight for slight, Christ, who lives in you, will
return love and blessings. Then He will be glorified through you
and all heaven will shout with joy as they see Carl, once dead
in sins, now quickened and alive in Christ. This is your destiny.
Live it to the fullest.
May the Lord richly bless you with love and grace. Your brother
in Christ.
Allen A. Benson