What Love Says to Perfect Love

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 7:06 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

What Love Says to Perfect Love 2017-02-27T19:06:06-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Thanks Mom. The treats were good, the prayer better!

Faith is the voluntary response of our souls when God reveals Himself to our inner being. We know. It is intellectual, emotional, and physical! Of course, then (as Plato pointed) out, reason and experience can help us understand what God has shown us, but it is in the very nature of God, His goodness and truthfulness, that we place our hope.

We have faith seeking understanding.

This is the context of a very important prayer for Lent that my Mother shared with me:

O Jesus, I surrender myself to you,
take care of everything!

If you are not Roman Catholic (as I am not), then let go of what is wrong and see the joy in surrender. This is not self-abasement, this is what love says to Love. There is joy in knowing that God has a plan and that all will be right in the end. Evil is real and the world is not as it was made to be, but the foundations are still His foundations.

We will reach home, however lost we seem, because this is the world He made. We might pause, however. Skepticism is not bad. The vision is not in doubt, we had the experience, but that is not enough. What if we are fooling ourselves? This is where reason comes, not to give us faith, but to serve as a helper to faith. It strips away our misinterpretations, our misunderstandings. Reason can even confirm some very basic things about the Beloved: He is, He is creator.

However, it is God’s revelation to us and the faith that He stirs within us that gives us the hope, desire, love to experience just a moment of bliss. This is not the result of external pressure and it does not strip me of personality. Instead, when I pray, useless worry and care is reduced.

I do not, as a result, think less, but think less about myself and the false fears and worries over things I cannot control. You might assert that goodness exists, and that you can live a good life, but without God, you cannot know that good will come to you. God knows good will come to you, to all you love, and to all who give themselves to Him.

The good news is that while we are required by love to believe that God will allow us to say “no” to Him, he is not a stalker. We have hope for any soul. We do not know what God shows us at the hour of our death . . . what is revealed and since we know by faith and by reason that He is good, we can have hope.

God is very persuasive! At the end of this school for souls, we fall into the hands of perfect Justice, but also perfect Love. God have mercy, but this is so wonderful.

The point is this: God might use us to bring healing, or find cures, or fight evil, but we need not come at any good deed from anxiety. God will do it and our spiritualized worry and anxiety does nothing. Mentally grinding over our fears is useless . . .

And, of course, the balance is that we sometimes bring all our hatred, anger, and sorrow to God raw: read the Psalms! There is, however, the balancing truth that we can trust the good, sovereign Lover with absolute surrender and at the end of all time to take care of everything: now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

February 26, 2017

Forgiveness is Not Cheap

Next Post

February 28, 2017 The Mentalist is a Good TV Show Like Life is a Good Cereal

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Joshua made the sun stand still over Gibeon to give Israel more time to defeat their enemies.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »