"Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God unless he has
unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of this spirit by trying to love
others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart. When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth
spontaneously. The completeness of Christian character is attained when the impulse to help and bless
others springs constantly from within--when the sunshine of heaven fills the heart and is revealed in the
countenance." –Christ's Object Lessons, Page 384, By E. G. White.
I read this beautiful quote for the first time many years ago, and it made a tremendous impression on me. I have treasured it ever since. Yet, my study of God's word since then, I believe, has helped me to understand it more. We could take the last part about loving others being a sign of completeness of Christian character and leave out the first, to our detriment.
You may say, "If a person really loves others, he is being Christlike. How can we doubt that?" It is true, if he REALLY loves others. This is an agape kind of love, a completely unselfish love. How many of us can make a claim to be completely unselfish in all our dealing with our fellow man, and even in our attitude toward our Maker and Redeemer? We may be good at hugging people or giving out food baskets or taking care of the needs of the sick, but are we loving others as God loves us? We need to be honest about this.
We need to recognize the significance of the first part of the paragraph I quoted above. For example: "When self is merged in Christ......" In what order do we find the ten commandments? Love for God comes before love for our fellow humans. A real, compassionate love for others may serve as proof of our love to God. Yet, this experience can be falsified by those who have mixed motives in their kindness to others. Don't get me wrong. Few people who consistently try to help others are trying to deceive people. Chances are, they may not be aware of their motives. Without being aware of it, one can wish to win "brownie points" by good deeds. They may feel it is a way to win the praise of men. They may believe it will gain them a place in heaven. Yet, none of these motives are pure and godlike. Christ is our example and His motives for helping others were completely unselfish. He hated to see people suffering and He longed to win them to Himself, so they could have eternal life. Perhaps we have these motives at times. Some may have such motives more than others. Our growth in Christ varies.
If we see an inkling of selfishness mingled in our daily service for others, we still have a better goal to attain. This doesn't mean we have to wait for this pure love before we can serve others. On the contrary, if we wait we may never grow in love. Service itself can aid us in the process of growing in agape love. Yet, there is something else often amiss. I know this is true in my life, and my guess is it may be true in the lives of many others too. In fact, we may find ourselves reluctant to spend as much time as we ought in the service of God and our fellow men.
Why is this possible? Self must be merged in Christ. What does this mean? This self is referring to you and I as individuals, not to the selfishness in us. We, who at one time, decided to accept Jesus as our Saviour, must learn to daily and hourly choose to keep ourselves in His hands. We must stay submitted to Him. It is a daily surrender, a daily denial of self. Are we holding on to any trait of character, any idol that would keep us from merging our hearts with Christ? Are our daily choices putting a wall between us and our Saviour? Is the selfish, carnal nature getting the best of us? I believe there are several steps we must take to grow up into the person God wants us to be.
One is communion with God through prayer, daily personal prayer. Be honest with God and ourselves. Be willing for God to examine our hearts and be willing to see ourselves and to realize where we need to change and to improve. Can we change or improve on our own? No! That's another step. We must allow God to work in us, to lead us to repentance and confession, to lead us away from temptations' traps, to give us divine power for victories. Another step is study of God's word. This is vital. Our mind needs to be so full of it, that when temptation comes, when trials come, we are prepared with a "thus saith the Lord." That's how Jesus conquered the enemy and that is how we will too. Complete reliance on Him, on His written word, on His divine power is absolutely necessary for self to be merged in Christ so love can "spring forth spontaneously."
The paragraph I quoted in the beginning tells us we cannot love others by TRYING to love others. Just as we can't overcome long-standing bad habits by TRYING. We need His power, we need His love to fill us to overflowing. John says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments...For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments..." (1 John 5:2, 3) When His law is written in our hearts, as we are told in Hebrews 10, love will be there also. When self is merged in Christ legalism is not involved, because He has control of us. Love becomes our motive as it is His motive. Selfishness dies away. "The sunshine of heaven is in the heart, and is revealed in the countenance." When God has a people who reveal His love on this earth, in the way He did, then He will come again and claim them as His own. Then they will vindicate God's claims to the angels that men who serve Him are safe to save. They will not jeopardize the peace of heaven.