Sacred Love Pt. 2

"The god of this age has blinded

the minds of unbelievers,

so that they cannot see the light

of the Gospel of the glory of Christ,

who is the image of God."

-2 Corinthians 4:4

We know that the Gospel of the glory of Christ is true sacred love in its most quintessential form because it most clearly display the sacrificial love of God. This is how we know what love is!

"This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us."

-1 John 3:16

The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the mind of unbelievers so that they cannot see this sacred love. Now we know God's love is always present and there is a time when that love will pierce through the darkness that Satan has created, but it depends on the mind of the unbeliever (which we will get into later) and if that is God's will. Wait- God's will? If God's love is always present and He loves that unbeliever wouldn't He save that person? Thing to remember: God's unconditional love is not a love that justifies the sinner, but rather a love that justifies the sin. If it was a love that justified the sinner, everyone would be saved. 

There is an obvious battle present here. The battle between earthly and sacred love. What we have to do is recognize the battle between earthly and sacred love. Why do we have to recognize the battle? Because the battle between earthly and sacred love is not just a battle between the unbeliever and the believer. It is a battle amongst believers as well.

The great evil in this battle of love in believers is when we blur the line between the two loves. This reveals itself in our lives so many times. For instance, when we say we love our girlfriend or boyfriend and devote so much of our time into him or her rather than our relationship with God. This is confusing two distinctly different things.

An almost greater evil in this battle is when we are unable to acknowledge the difference or when we are unable to admit we are wrong in this. So many of us claim to know the difference between earthly and sacred love and how we go about it. But if we love God like we say we do then that should be enough to radically and drastically change the way we live our lives. For some people, our lives wouldn't look too different if we had no sacred love at all. It would probably just mean no church on Sundays or campus ministry or etc. etc. Therefore, we see in the battle of earthly and sacred love for the believer it is mainly drawing a line between religion and relationship. Are you just doing religion? Do you have a relationship with our God? Realizing this line is key to approaching God with a sacred love. 

Another question that you should asking yourself became apparent to me when I was at Passion in January. John Piper asked everyone this question: Do you feel more love by God when He makes much of you or when He enables you to make much of Him?

We have seen that earthly love is a very self-focused love which contrasts God's sacrificial love. Therefore, do you love God because He makes much of you (earthly) or because He enables you to make much of Him (sacred)? 

There is one common misconception in unbelievers and believers (not all) that is  important to realize in recognizing the battle between earthly and sacred love. That misconception is this: God created us so that He could love us. Yes, God loves us, but that is not why He created us. God created us so that we could love Him (Isaiah 43:7).

People who approach God with an earthly self-focused love feel distant from Him when something goes wrong in their life because in that one moment, they are not being made much of. People who approach God with a sacrificial sacred love feel like God is closer to them when something goes wrong in their life because they grasp the idea that His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Their reaction is to praise God all the more through their weakness or in other words, make much of Him. 

Recognizing the battle between earthly and sacred love has so much to do with evaluating your approach to God. The beautiful difference between earthly and sacred love is that you can actually formulate your life around the love you have for God. You can't formulate your life around the love you have for a chair. You can try to, but you will fail because God's love is the only love that is unfailing (like we have seen earlier).

Are you trying to formulate your life around a love you have on this Earth? Or is your sacred love for God your anchor? Evaluate your approach to God and recognize the apparent battle between earthly and sacred love.

In Part 3, we will discuss fighting the battle between earthly and sacred love.