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The Original Nature
Love is not a secondary additional act or an optional behavior, or extra
deed. It is part of the essence of man and it is basic foundation of
existence of man.
Certainly man was created with free will; nevertheless, if he chooses not to love, he will
lose his nature and also lose his communion with God.
Of course, we understand that love encourages construction, good, and peace. On the
contrary hatred does destruction, evil, and contends. Love is something in the constituents
of the nature of man and it is the nature of God because: “God is love,” 1 John
4: 8, 1 John 4: 16. Man was created in the image of God and His likeness, Genesis 1:26.
It is part of the soul, mind, thoughts, feelings, and the spirit of man. “Who show the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them,” Romans 2: 15. The
law is love. “For there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with
all the heart, with all understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to
love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices,”
Mark 12: 32-33. “For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;” “You shall
not murder;” “You shall not steal;” “You shall not bear false witness;” “You shall not
covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” Romans 13:9. “Therefore, love is the fulfillment
of the law,’ Romans 13:10. We see that very clear in fatherhood and motherhood
and how parents keep and raise up their children. Someone may say that this
applies to animals. But as humans lose love there is the distortion of the nature of man
which has influenced parenting, motherhood, and childhood as we see sometimes parents
kill their children nowadays and since the early ages of mankind as it happened
during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. “The hands of the compassionate
women have cooked their own children. They became food for them in the destruction
of the daughter of my people,” Lamentations 4:10.
On the other side, when love is present in man, he cares for the children of other people
as in the story of St. Macarius the Great and the two married women that were in
Alexandria. They reached the same spiritual level of St. Macarius. Man may take care
of people that are not related to him as the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:33. This is the original
image of the nature of man. God did not create man to be lost on earth or to make
divisions. The parable of the Good Samaritan is the pure image of man and is a symbol
of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus came and showed us His great love and saved us from
the thieves that are the devil and his hosts. Christ came not only by his human love but
rather by the endless Divine love, “Eternal love,” Jeremiah 31:3, that was manifested by
His incarnation.
Whoever ignores love, gives in to the distorted nature that came after the fall and the sin
and does not regard the original nature of man. Love is the one of the foundations of
man because God created us by His love. Existence has no value without love.
Therefore, when man misses love, man turns to be materialistic or like a machine that
does not value its existence. Suicide increased among new generations because they lost
the meaning of existence and love. They do not pay attention to love while God stretches
his arms to all mankind. “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth,” 1 Timothy 2:4. Corruption entered into man by the devil. “Whose
minds, the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them,” 2 Corinthians 4:4.
Devil suppressed them from seeing God’s love.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28.
This verse applies to those that have constructive pure love “Imitating the image of His
Son,” Romans 8:29. Love is the way of building, good, and peace. God created everything
through His love. He created heaven, earth, and the universe. Everything was
created because of His love. All things work for the good to those who love Him and
imitate the image of His Son. Even the wild beasts submit to them and become domestic
and peaceful because their nature is pure. Therefore, we say with St. Paul: “Which
thing can separate us from the love of Christ,” Romans 8:35-39.
Love is not a complimentary thing in our spiritual life. St. Paul says that we are
indebted to love others: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who
loves another has fulfilled the law,” Romans 13:8. Love is the fulfillment of the law,
Romans 13:10. It is the execution and living by and obeying, and the end of the law.
(1Tim. 1: 5)
Love is to fulfill the written law in the heart since God created man.
Copyright © 2006 Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, California, U.S.A. The above article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Saint Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery, California, U.S.A. |
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