The Wilful Sunflower

In The Miracle of Agape Love Joseph F Manning writes,

If agape love could be defined... I believe it would be like this:

I love you (I really experience a giving, selfless love) because God has placed within me His wonderful love for you.

Surprisingly, we find in Scripture that the first person who prayed that God's love would be placed in the hearts of His children was Jesus. In the gospel of John, chapter 17, Jesus prayed, "Father, I want those You have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory... I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for me may be in them..."

There is, then, no real love outside of Christ. Apart from Him there is only emotional feeling and infatuation which is unreliable and subject to change. Indeed, Scripture tells us that apart from God we can do nothing, and that certainly includes loving one another.

I've always believed that the message I carry is one of love. The reason I want to tell people about my God is not to "save souls" or "bring people into the Kingdom" (oh, how I hate the jargon!), but because I see so many people hurting and broken and I KNOW my God can heal!!

Most people carry hidden scars, I've long believed, scars from the past, scars they mask with smiles and jokes and laughter... but so many are hurting inside. They have no one to turn to, so they write to the "agony aunts" in newspapers and magazines, hoping for some help, some understanding, a ray of light.

If only I could tell them that they are not alone, they don't need to be alone - that God loves them more than they could ever conceive - that He created them with care, and they are not an 'accident' or a mistake - that there can be joy and meaning and purpose to life!

Paul said that Christ's love compels us, and that is exactly how I feel.

I refuse to do the "hard sell", to grab strangers by the collar and ask them, "Do you want to go to heaven?" For me, it's not about going to heaven. It's not about what happens after death. It's about the here and now - God is present in the here and now! God cares about us here and now. God can make a difference to our lives here and now!

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent," Jesus said. I want people to know Him! To know a loving, compassionate Father.

As Macker says, "There is yet much to do. Many hearts to reach with the love of a Divine Creator who wishes only to be a constant in our lives, rather than a variable of opportunity. There are many lives to see restored, healed, reconstructed, repurposed. Many people to be reached with the message of a life grounded and centered in the grace and mercy that only Jesus can provide."

Amen and amen.