Christian Living

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All of us from birth are accustomed to make observations about the world around us, and look for patterns in things. Once we understand the pattern of something it becomes possible to make reliable predictions about how the world operates. As adults what we regard as the barest skills necessary to function were once breakthroughs in our minds as children. How to satisfy hunger, or relieve our bodies, or communicate a thought probably brings a certain satisfaction to the mind of an infant.

Before that moment of discovery the infant feels at least some form of irritation that causes them to look for a solution. If no solution can be found they will simply broadcast their misery to the whole world in hopes that an answer will come to them. As adults we may find the approach of an infant humorous - but we really are no better as adults. We may have discovered how to satisfy our barest necesseties, but irritants still abound in many varieties that often leave us as helpless as an infant.

An adults irritants are typically of a far subtler nature than those of an infant. But like an infant the source of our irritation may be equally mysterious to our minds. Life may seem like an endless cycle of suffering punctuated by brief respites from grief. What pulls us out of those moments may be as unpredictable as an adult changing an infant's diaper. The infant is forced to sit in discomfort until someone comes to address a need that they don't fully understand.

Love is one of those intangible needs that everyone has - but is difficult to address. When it comes we know that it is good, but beyond that it is difficult to identify as a predictable property in the world. Some would even argue that it doesn't really exist at all in the natural world. To them, "love" is an ultimately self serving behavior tainted with motives of personal gain. When love comes for these people, it is about as mysterious to the natural order of things as a ghost or spirit. Like seeing a ghost, most would immediately dismiss it as an illusion.

An honest self assessment for most would seem only to confirm that hypothesis. If even the very best of our intentions are at least partially motivated by self serving interests, what chances are there it is any different elsewhere? If we come to this conclusion then love and our need for it become objects of cynicism and bitterness in our minds. We begin to despise and deny the very thing we need. The hope for love doesn't die easy though, and even the most hardened minds can't deny a longing for what they don't believe exists.

When the Apostle John wrote that "God is love" (1st John 4:8) he couldn't have described God or our need for Him more perfectly. God, as true love, is entirely alien to the natural order of things. He is deeply and innately longed for by every human being - and yet we can't discern Him in the world. When we as Christians are full of God's Love, it is about as mysterious to the world as a transparent dove flying in their path. If they experience it enough - they can be convinced that there is more to reality than the natural order.

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