Love God and Do What You You Will

Last updated on: March 29, 2016 at 11:46 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Love God and Do What You You Will 2016-03-29T23:46:00-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

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Augustine: Love God

Between the state of the Presidential race and a world where a pastor is crucified on Good Friday, one could be . . . anxious.

It is never good to act from anxiety. How do I know?

Believe me. I know. How can I avoid doing things out of anxiety? This happens when I am filled with love . . . a sentiment vague enough to be nearly useless, trite enough to be annoying, but true enough to demand explanation. Love for people will drive anxiety out of my actions if I love people enough.

Best to act from love and persons are the ultimate object of our love. No other type of object or cause should allow us to “run over” people. We shouldn’t crush people for money, power, fame, or even ministry. We can’t do good by sacrificing people for abstractions or impersonal things.

Why?

We are physical beings and so in one way we exist like flat screens, computers, and houses, but we are also minds and emotions. Our minds can discover ideas and appreciate other minds. It is not good, it cannot be good, for a mind to be alone. A mind cries out for another mind because only a mind is interesting enough to keep us from tedium, beautiful enough to hold back despair, and creative so we escape difficulties.

Find a man who loves money more than he loves people and you will find a man slowly becoming a thing and not a person. Annie was right when she told Daddy Warbucks: Money, power, and capitalism cannot love you back.

All minds lead back to God, the foundation for existence and personality. We love God because He is the very sort of thing, personality, mindfulness, that we need. His great gift to humankind, angels, and any other mindful beings of person-hood requires community. God Himself is one being with three persons: a community of persons with one essence in constant, mindful, community.

If I love any person enough, then ideally I would see God. You cannot love the image of a beautiful person without coming to the love the Ideal Person on which that image is based. Sadly, we are so broken, fall so short of love, that we cannot just love each other and come to the Truth. We get bogged down and think we love the person when we love what they do for us, for our ministry, or for our cause.

We turn our eyes heavenward because we need a love that does not get stuck on aspects of the beloved or on what the beloved can do for us. God is not controllable, cannot be commanded by any seduction or magic, God is. When we love God, then we can better love our neighbor. If we do not love our neighbor, then we know we do not love God. We cannot love the image of God (human persons) well without God’s help, His grace, but then that grace enables us to do what we should do.

Anxiety vanishes.

Why?

I can love my neighbor even if he will not love me back. Love is not like “winning.” I might win, reach a goal, achieve a dream, or not. Nobody can stop me from loving God and my neighbor . . . God will not and my neighbor cannot. My enemy cannot force me to hate. In the love of God there is an impossibility of failure. God always loves His children. If I will be born again, as a child of God, then I have a parent who will see me through to eternal bliss.

I cannot fail . . . even if the tasks God gives me to do seem to “fail.” Love God. . . and all is well, better than just “fine” . . . joyous.

So sure I get anxious. We are trying to start a revolutionary new kindergarten through college school and yet we are doing it for people. We are in Houston because that is where God called us. Orthodox Christians are our family and so our ministry begins with home. We love God, love each other, and so can love what we do.

Augustine was right: we can safely love God and then do whatever that love motivates, guides, and produces.

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