LOVE

 

“I am struck by the similarity between the process of developing a testimony and the process of falling in love. Love and testimony are two of the most important human experiences, yet often we are unsure how we can be certain that either has come fully into our lives.

“In finding the love we seek during the courtship years, we often have in mind the personal qualities we are looking for. But even when we meet someone who has everything on our list (the test of reason), there may be something missing: the “spark”, that mysterious something that makes us FEEL love, not just think it (the test of feeling). Yet rational satisfaction and good feelings are still not enough.

“To know if this relationship is the real thing, we must give it some time (the test of experience). We must see how things go when the “new” wears off. We need to know how the relationship holds up under pressure, whether it grows and stirs, almost whether it takes on a life of its own. As it is in the search for love, so it is in the search for testimony…….through reason, feeling, and experience.”  (Bruce C.Hafen, “The Believing Heart”, p 23-4)

Out testimony is in essence, a courtship. Whether it will lead to marriage when the Saviour appears is something we are yet to see. The marriage depends on one thing: if “the spark” has passed the test of time. I often hear some converts say that they miss those early days of their Church membership: the excitement, the discovery of spiritual moments and doctrine, the motivation of Church involvement. I know it all because I have been through it. But so often the spark dulls over time and is sometimes even lost altogether. That’s when people leave.

The path is clear: “If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”  (Deuteronomy 4:29). For those who leave the seeking seems too much work.

The degree of our acceptance of Christ as our personal Saviour and our testimony of His Gospel is proportionate to our love for Him and vice versa. Seeking Christ and the truth does not end at baptism. It is just the beginning. How much we seek Him thereafter will determine how bright the spark is on the wedding day. It’s about the heart and about the love. Is it any wonder the Saviour compared our relationship with Him to a marriage covenant?

I followed all Your footsteps

And I sacrificed everything.

I did Your bidding no matter

What You asked of me.

I trusted, I had faith, I endured

All the pain that was given me.

I kept my love burning like a flame

Until I came to see the reality:

It is not my love, but Yours,

That is consuming me.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: His Love Fills My Heart by Greg Collins)