Awakening by Love

...He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.... Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good.... (Romans 13:1-3)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1 John 4:18-20)

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8)

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16)

Authorities have a way of flushing out my lack of love and exposing the sin and hatred that still finds residence in my heart. Authorities typically specialize in fear-motivation to control those under their domination. When I react in fear and hatred I betray clearly that I am not perfected in love.

The insistence in these verses that I cannot love God if I cannot love those who abusively exercise authority in my life feels very harsh and condemning. But that very condemnation reveals that I am not living in a right spirit in reference to authority.

Interestingly and ironically, since God is love and all authority is established by God, then indirectly love is behind all authority. That to me sounds like one of the most bizarre statements that could ever be spoken. My logical mind can acknowledge that this can be deduced from these verses but my heart revolts with strong objections. But that is no surprise either, for condemnation or guilt is simply the tension between the left and right brain when they are in disagreement with each other.

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)

In this context, sleep seems to be a description of one who is not perfected in love enough to be empowered to live in subjection to authority with love for the people they are subject to. When I look at the example of Jesus in the last hours of His life before His crucifixion, I see that the only way He was able to live in subjection to authority as He did was because He was full of perfect love, even for His enemies that were doing everything possible to induce Him to do otherwise.

Salvation is nearer.... Salvation is the process of restoring each of us to the perfection of selfless love and harmony with the heart and spirit of God and heaven. Evidently, waking up out of sleep is needed for this salvation to have more effect in my life, especially at the heart level. Problems relating to authority are only symptoms and not the real underlying issues. A heart still vacant and in desperate need of love is the real problem and the symptoms of sin or conflicts with authorities are simply indicators that I need more transformation of the heart by receiving and reflecting more of God's love.

How does this take place? How can I wake up out of my life-long stupor induced by my lack of experiencing enough love? How can my deepest wounds be healed where the seeds of anger and rebellion still fester and cause these external exhibitions of sin? What must I do to be saved, to experience fully this salvation? What does it mean to wake up and how do I get there from here?

I do not want to settle for platitudes and cheap religious answers to these very real and burning questions. I want real transformation that produces real love under confrontational circumstances. I am tired of working hard on the externals, the symptoms without experiencing the inner healing at the deepest levels of my soul where the real problems still reside. I want a genuine and thorough new birth and conversion at the heart level that deals with the real roots so that the externals will take care of themselves naturally. I want to live the genuine spiritual life of God in the natural way that it is supposed to be lived. I am tired of religion and all of its demands and condemnation. I want to be led by the Spirit of God so that the descriptions of the law will be seen emanating from me spontaneously.

I do not pretend to have the answers for all of this right now. God is the only one who can deal with these questions effectively. And besides, answers typically only address the left brain primarily and most of these questions and desires are right brain issues from where real life is lived. I cry out to God in my distress of soul to hear my prayer and give me the desire of my heart. That desire is to be perfected in love, to be ravished with the passionate and extravagant love that flows from the heart of God through Jesus Christ. God, be merciful to me a sinner in need of real love.

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