Love's Devotion

by R. Armstrong, Toronto | Category: Crossroads | Jun 1969

David longed, "Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem ... And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water ... and brought it to David; but David would not drink ... but poured it out to the LORD, and said ... shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?" (1 Chronicles 71.17-19).

"The grace of God ... in the churches of Macedonia;... their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For according to their power ... and beyond they gave ... but first they gave their own selves to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8.1-5).

These things were done by different people who lived hundreds of years apart, and yet the motivating power was the same. Both had learned to love. Against the background of these noble actions is etched a shining example of the power of love. One feels the challenge of greater love and devotion to the Lord, a renewed longing to know Him "whom to know is life eternal".

Waning love to God was the cause of Israel's disintegration. The law alone was not able to keep them together. So with us, the doctrine of the house of God alone, though essential, will not keep God's people together if love is gone. It is the divine framework within which the pulse and vigour of divine life is sustained by love to Him, and obedience to His word. One of the dominant characteristics of the last days is waning love. "Because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24.12). May we be kept in the warmth and protection of God's love, with its begetting force within our hearts. Love begets love.

A story is told of a man who was trying to remove the frost from a window with a knife. The work was difficult and the results unsatisfactory. A neighbour advised him to light a fire and warm the room, and the frost would disappear.

The Pharisees were strong for law-keeping and morality on the surface, but knew nothing of warmth in the heart. Water cannot be purified by white-washing the pump.

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth" (1 John 3.18).

R. Armstrong, Toronto | Jun 1969
Crossroads