The Love of the Spirit
Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.” ’ — COLOsSIANS i, 8
PRGYOVE in the Spirit,” what is that? It is the only thing worth having in human affection. It is the love the of inner as distinguished from the love of the outer man. ‘There is a love which is not spiritual; it rests on the beauty of the form, and with the beauty of the form it fades away. It comes to the Son of man when He is feeding the multitude with bread, but it leaves Him alone under the shadow of the Cross. But spiritual love is impervious to shadow. It comes not because the leaves are green, and therefore it goes not when the leaves are seared and yellow. It pays its homage to the soul as a soul — sees its royalty amid rags, detects its greatness amid ruins. It will find the Son of man in the dark and cold of the sepulchre and anoint Him there with the myrrh and aloes. It will find the apostle of the Gentiles in the meanness and degradation of a Roman dungeon and will recognise in him a perfect beauty though his bodily presence were weak and his speech contemptible. Well might Paul reverence that form of devotion which he calls “love in the Spirit.”
“Love in the Spirit,” be this, O Lord, my love for Thee. Let me love Thee for what Thou art, not for what Thou givest. There are times in which Thou givest nothing. There are seasons in which we tarry in the wilderness all night and have no bread. Why dost Thou not always multiply the loaves? It is because Thou longest to be loved “in the Spirit,” loved for Thyself alone. Let me abide with Thee in the desert when there is no bread. I came to Thee when Thou wert loaci. .; me with benefits; let me stay with Thee when Thou hast taken Thy benefits away. I came to Thee when the multitude cried “hosannah;” let me remain with Thee after they have shouted “crucify.” I came to Thee when Thy way was strewn with palm-leaves; let me linger with Thee when Thy brow is wreathed with thorns. Teach me to feel that the wilderness wii Thee is better than the garden without Thee, that famine by Thy side outweighs plenty where Thou art not near. Then shall I know the peace that passeth understanding — the peace which the world cannot take away. The loss of Thy gifts will not break my joy when I have learned to love Thyself — to love Thee in the Spirit.