Paying the Debt of Love
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Dear friend,
One who is ready to serve others, will always have abundant opportunities for such service. Love never gets its debts paid off. You know Paul exhorts us to owe no man anything, but love. He implies that we never can pay off all love's debts, or even if we do get them paid off at the close of some happy day — we shall find them waiting at our door in the morning, as clamorous as ever. Of course, LOVE is the law of Christian life. We cannot be Christlike — unless we do love. "By this all men will know that you are My disciples — if you love one another." John 13:35. But oh! is not love tremendously costly sometimes?
I preached last evening to the young people on the kind of friend they should take into their lives. Among other things, I spoke of the fact that in engaging to be one's friend, we do not know what our engagement means, what we covenant to do, what burdens to carry, what sufferings to endure, what patience may be required of us, what toil and care and bearing of loads. Nevertheless, love must never flinch from paying the full price. I know that often people assert very strong friendship for others and are sincere enough in their hearts at the time. But I have ofttimes seen these people, when the need for service came, flinch, unable to measure up to of their own engagements.
Yet, do not understand that I am complaining. There is no other life like that of love. Nothing brings us so much happiness — as living for others, giving out our lives in sweet helpfulness, whatever the cost may be. So I congratulate you on the opportunity you are having for self-denial and costly serving of others. You remember Jesus said that he who saves his life, loses it — while he who loses his life for the Master's sake, saves it. That is, the only way to save our lives — to make them grow into beauty, to reach up into strength, is to give them out, empty them, to sacrifice them in whatever ways we may be called upon to do. He who flinches at calls for self-denial, he who withdraws himself and holds back his life from pain and cost at love's demands, is losing that which he thinks he is saving.
I am sure that God will answer your prayers, making you brave and keeping you sweet and patient in all the experiences through which you are called to pass. The Master never leads us anywhere, without making provision for us. He never asks us to do impossibilities. Of course, he asks us to do many things that seem to us to be impossibilities — that would be, to human strength unhelped. But even these hardest things become easy, when we meet them in Christ's name, with his hand upon our heads, with his strength in our hearts.
You remember Augustine's prayer which he used to make so often, "Command what you will — and give what you command." We need not fear any commands which God gives to us, nor shrink from any duties which he assigns to us, because we know that whenever he does thus lay upon us burdens too heavy for us to bear with our own feeble strength — he always means to give us what we need. I like Paul's words, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
Regarding your share in the happiness of others in their wedded lives, I understand your feeling. But, my dear child, the sweetest happiness which we can get in the world, comes fromadding a little to the happiness of others. I know it is not easy when the hungry heart cries out for bread, to see others eating to the full, when we cannot ourselves have even a crumb for our own hunger.
But, after all, we do get many crumbs — indeed, the best bread, is the bread from Heaven, the bread of Christ's love! Enter more and more deeply and fully into the love of Christ, and let that love fill your heart.
I believe that God does not require us to crush or destroy anything in us that he has created. Buddha's theory of life, is that happiness will be reached by destroying the appetites and desires. Christ's theory is that happiness comes in the satisfaction of these desires and yearnings, not, of course, in baser ways — but in the higher ways.
If the Master has denied to you the earthly satisfaction your heart craves so ardently, be sure that he means you to find that satisfaction in the higher things. Open your heart to the divine love. Spread your sails — and catch the upper currents.
The secret of a beautiful life is living in unbroken fellowship with Christ, under the influence of His presence and the inspiration of His love and grace. If we could get this same realization of the divine presence into our life, it would mean everything to us. You remember that phrase that is quoted so often in these days — "practising the presence of God."
We all say we believe that God is with us all the time, that Christ is ever by our side, closer than the nearest friend. Let us practice this belief. Let us act as if it were true. This is a wonderful lesson if we can learn it. I give it to you today, hoping that it may have its help and blessing for you in your own life.
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