Recently, while thinking about divine Love, I read these words from First John: “We love him, because he first loved us” (4:19). I wondered, Is the reason I love God really that He first loved me? It seemed so binary and limited on the surface. But as I paid closer attention, I saw that because God’s love is the first and only love we know, we do indeed take our cues as to how to love from Love itself.
The simple idea that God loves us first invites us to think about love on something well beyond an intellectual level. And the more we understand the nature of God’s love, the more we experience divine Love all around us. “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us,” First John further explains. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world” (4:16, 17).
We take our cues as to how to love from Love itself.
To believe in the love God has for us can feel like a challenge when things are difficult, but Love itself gives us the boldness to understand and walk in the way of this truth. Our part as believers is to keep a lively sense of infinite Love in our thought. “As he is, so are we in this world” means that just as we are truly created in God’s image, we spiritually reflect God’s own understanding of His love; so we can yield to that understanding in human consciousness. We needn’t wait for a future harmony or healing to feel the power of divine Love. God loves us so thoroughly right now because He knows and sees only our spiritual perfection. We are made perfect in His love, and understanding this fact of our true perfection melts away mortal error—including an anxious sense of lack or fear, which is so often manifest in illness and inharmony.
The consciousness of Love’s infinite presence brings to light a deep serenity within, not only for us but for those embraced in the calm clarity of our mental atmosphere. How might this spiritually uplifted atmosphere of thought be seen in our lives? We would act more graciously—be more patient and kind, and not so quick to condemn. We would see how counterproductive self-righteous condemnation is, and replace it with selfless love. In the middle of a turbulent exchange, we would be bold enough to perceive that God loves everyone involved.
As we compassionately endeavor to see that immortal Love is always right where we are, our affections are renewed—not because someone else changed, but because we responded to Love’s presence instead of reacting to an expression of frustration or a contentious situation. I recall many business meetings when willpower seemed to rule the proceedings. Yet whenever I began to think in accord with divine Love, previously unseen answers suddenly buoyed to the surface.
No matter how anyone else chooses to think, loving God because we know that God first loved us is an act of fearlessness that breaks through the mesmerism of every earthly challenge—even a spouse’s death.
A dear friend found a renewed understanding of infinite Love invaluable when her husband suddenly passed on. He was her cherished lifemate. Together, they had shared careers as teachers, then retired and regularly trekked the Himalayan mountains. After he passed, she thought she would never experience love and adventure again. But she decided to set her watch alarm to beep hourly to remind herself that God loved her. This little beep became a practical angel message to her—a consistent “I love you” that lifted an intellectual understanding of Love to a lively spiritual influence felt every hour of the day, and that in turn led her to love others as a result. She frequently and happily hosted lively dinner parties and volunteered in a middle school, where she was eventually honored in a full-school parade.
Bringing our thoughts into accord with divine Love, we find a sacred space for our heart to manifest a higher sense of order and a deeper peace. Loss, fear, pain, blame, a sense of failure—every rehearsal of mortal belief—dissolve. When we are receptive to infinite Love, we feel it loving us right out of any sadness, burden, or hurt, and even lifting us out of a sense of bland routine and dullness.
Our part as believers is to keep a lively sense of infinite Love in our thought.
Reflecting Love is natural to us as God’s creation. It’s a birthright everyone inherently possesses. No matter what we’ve done, God’s love is universal, encompassing all. When feeling heartbroken, angry, or guilty—or when embarrassed by our actions—we’re free to know the tender love of God. Equally, when happy with what we’ve accomplished, we can humbly discern that God’s love is the sole source of every success.
We cannot get outside of God’s omnipresent and omnipotent love, because “God is at once the centre and circumference of being” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, pp. 203–204). A friend once said at a low point that he didn’t feel worthy of God’s love. This is a misperception of the truth of being. Universal Love can’t be earned or brokered, because God is Love. God loves His creation because of what we are—His reflection—and because of His very nature as Love.
The fear that God loves some more than others can also sometimes tempt us. But the perpetual love of Love is impartial and unconditional, never based on person or personality. There’s no obstruction between infinite Love and each of its expressions. God’s perfect love isn’t hidden or inaccessible to anyone. We all have the spiritual sense that discerns Love.
Above all, immortal Love can’t “not love,” because “not loving” is impossible for our divine Father-Mother, whose name and nature is Love. “Not loving” is only the supposititious opposite of the very action divine Love expresses in infinite measure.
This love of God is made known to humanity by the presence of the Christ, the divine influence of good that dwells in our hearts, and that assures us of our oneness with Love. The Apostle Paul saw this with such certainty. He said: “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39).
Being “persuaded” of our unity with Love provides real and sweet satisfaction. As we drop a mortal take on love and begin to see proof of God’s love in healing and regeneration, we view ourselves from Love’s perspective, and this ushers God’s ubiquitous light into every aspect of our lives.
To experience more love—and to serve our world better—we need to understand that God loves us deeply. Celebrate your divinely loving nature. Dwell in God’s love, and you will progressively see your love made perfect.
To-day my soul can only sing and soar. An increasing sense of God’s love, omnipresence, and omnipotence enfolds me. Each day I know Him nearer, love Him more, and humbly pray to serve Him better.
MARY BAKER EDDY
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 174
