A Religion of Love

The love of Christ constaineth us.

-- 2 Cor. 5:14

Love is the essence of religion; but this essence is sadly lacking in much of the religion we see in the world today.

There is a religion of faith, in its narrower and imperfect sense, which lays hold of and believes a body of Christian doctrine, and has never passed through creed into love. We see a good many people who are very orthodox, but whose lives are not very lovely.

There is a religion of form, which contents itself with the externals of Christianity, its ordinances and rituals; and that is the religion of many men and women in all our churches. This type of religion makes a great show of itself on Sundays, but does not show off so well on weekdays.

There is a religion of duty, in which there is no delight, which has many adherents. The adherents of this religion will very readily go with you a mile, but they part company with you at the beginning of the second mile. They are on the job in the first mile of duty, but they know nothing of the joy and delight in the second mile of privilege. They do what they must, and no more. They observe the letter of religion, but not its spirit.

There is a religion of fear which dominates hundreds of professing Christians. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," but not the end of wisdom. God does not intend our feeling for Him to end in fear. "He that feareth is not made perfect in love." "Perfect love casteth out fear." But there are many who have never gotten beyond the fear stage in religion. They are afraid of calamity; they are afraid of sickness; they are afraid of death; they are afraid of God; and that is the sum and substance of their religion.

It is needless to say that these types of religion fall far short of being what religion is meant to be and should be. "God is love." That is the supreme and final revelation we have of Him. And religion is love; it is the love of God within our heart and within our will. Just as love is the final manifestation of God, it is the final righteousness of man. The holiness of love is the only holiness that makes life beautiful, happy, strong and triumphant. We never know what religion really is, and what it can mean in our lives, until we have A RELIGION OF LOVE.