26 May 2013 - nothing higher than love

26 May 2013 - nothing higher than love

"When the Lord established the heavens I was there,

Our God is not solitary.  He is relationship.  No wonder all he does to save us is done through relationship.  Love is not some lesser thing that gives way to some monolithic abstraction.  It is the heart of reality!

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,

It isn't first and foremost a matter of the things we do and don't do.  Those things are all ordered toward having the best possible relationship with Jesus.  That is why it is the Spirit within us that establishes us in relationship with Jesus and also empowers us to fulfill the law.  He is working toward the same relational end in each.

because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

He enables us to overcome all the challenges this world can throw at us.  These challenges would otherwise easily turn us aside to selfishness.  They would quickly make us put ourselves first and forget others.  But through the Spirit we persevere in love.

Similarly, the Spirit brings us truth, but not in the abstract.  He brings the revelation of the Trinity so that we might have relationship with him more and more.

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.

It is not mere head knowledge.  It is knowledge that is a gift from our heavenly Father. It is therefore an important part of our relationship with him.   It helps us to appreciate all that Jesus is and has done and therefore brings us into more perfect relationship with him.  It is personal.  The origin of this knowledge is personal and its end is personal.

He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."

It is therefore not simply the province of academics.  We must seek the truth because the one whom we follow is the way, the truth, and the life (cf. John 14:6).

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!