Love is partial

The love we must exercise, and, indeed, can only properly exercise, is a very partial kind – that is, we are committed to particular persons, times and places. I have often resisted this thought about how to love, preferring what I see as a more ‘pure’ or ‘godly’ love that takes a birds-eye-view - that is even-handed and impartial, that sees all sides and so is not especially favouring the person who I have chosen to commit to. However, there is a subtle and profound lie in the latter kind of love – that, despite its spiritual pretensions to the contrary, this reflects a vanity and pride on my part; so, I think I can and should love in this birds-eye-view way and, even more pretentiously, show others (in my wisdom) the same path. It strikes me now though that it is certainly not for me to love in this way but God’s only, as only he can see in this way. In claiming this birds-eye-view for myself I am trying (like Adam and Eve in the biblical account of the fall) to be as wise and as deep as God; to see things like he does (Genesis 3). But then, ironically, I miss the opportunity to love in the only way God wants me to, and the only way I can – partially and within a particular time and place and to particular persons, with particular problems, issues, loves, frustrations, dreams, pains, hates, and so on. Recognising that my love is partial, though, makes my job of loving, easier, more focused, and more real. As commanded by Jesus in Mathew 5: 43-48, it even helps me to love my enemies better!

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