Love that can transform a life

“‘God is Love.’ More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.” The truth in these short statements from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 6), the discoverer of Christian Science, has power to transform lives. We may not fathom the full depth of God’s love, but feeling even a fraction of it, even for a second, can change us forever.

An outpouring of Love’s love came to me unexpectedly in a moment of despair. I was feeling compelled to end a friendship because that person had disappointed me deeply.

This was a pattern in my life. I had lost many friends because of my unbending, uncompromising attitude that allowed me to love people only when they lived up to my standards. Very often my friends severed ties with me for this reason, since my attitude also prevented me from receiving and responding to criticism in positive, productive ways. It seemed as though that pattern would never end.

In that moment of despair, I asked God, “Why did You make me this way?”

Never in my life have I received a response so quickly or so definitively as I did in that moment: “I did not make you this way. I made you perfect.” A surge of God’s love enveloped my whole being.

In that moment, I felt fully loved and fully accepted, and I understood that God was asking me to love others in the same way. The result was that instead of ending that friendship, I made amends with my friend. And since then, all my relationships have become more harmonious and mutually supportive.

During his ministry, Jesus illustrated the power of genuine love many times, often healing people who were ostracized, considered “unclean.” For example, he reached out and touched a leper when healing him, and welcomed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years, calling her “Daughter” (see Matthew 8:2, 3, and 9:20-22).

Perhaps the most striking example of Jesus’ love came while he was being crucified. He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Despite what those involved had done to him, he saw their spiritual perfection as children of God.

This Christly love can fill any void in anyone’s life or heart because it has its source in God, infinite Love. In fact, that perfect love that Christ Jesus demonstrated is already within each of us, because we are made in the image of God – entirely spiritual. It is our true nature to love, because we are the image of Love.

This means that we are all capable of expressing divine Love. This infinite source of love can never be absent or dry up. All real love comes from God alone. And divine Love is an inexhaustible spring that we can draw from at any time. We can never be separated from this Love. It surrounds and permeates our whole being – our true nature as God’s spiritual offspring, reflecting His attributes.

Once we recognize that there is no end to the love of God – that God’s love is always present, already within us – we can love others with a new freedom, knowing that God’s love for them is shining through us.

“‘God is Love.’ More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.” Those four short phrases can serve as a reminder of what God is and what God created us to be: a pure transparency for infinite, perfect, divine Love.

Adapted from an article published in the March 15, 2021, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.