In the first in the series, Six Primary Components of Christian Spirituality, it was established in Genesis Chapter One that out of an overflowing abundance of love; God created the heavens and the Earth. The Earth was populated with plant, animal, and human life.
Plants are not believed to have consciousness, while animals live with very simple consciousness able to manage basic life instincts for survival. Humans appear to have higher level design and capacity for self awareness.
God designates humans for premium relationship with God's self and each other. Humans are also given responsibility for serving as stewards and caretakers over all God created.
By Genesis Chapter Six, God arrives at a level of disappointment with humans expressing regret over their creation and commits to their destruction. God's heart proves to be greater than God's desire to destroy, deciding not to destroy all but saves one family to reboot humanity.
The reboot doesn't work and all God's best effort to orient humanity to God's way never fully works. It is here God's highest level love reveals itself in the text that will serve as foundation for this series. In spite of the human inability to live at the level of God's hopes and expectations, God decides to love humanity with all of God's best self.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. The Gospel of John 3 vs 16 a
Love is not what it says, love is what it does according to father and son pastors in Columbus, Ohio, the Rev. Drs. Keith Troy and Leon Troy.
It is this level of love that models for the title of the second in the series. Diligent Love is the living out of intentional and on purpose affection for the object of affection. The object of God's affection is humanity. Being diligent is characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort to live equal to one's commitments. God's ability to be diligent and human ability to be diligent are radically different. One is able. One is not.
Humans struggle to love at this level. Humans frustrate very easily in relationships when one or the other party falls short on their committed agreements or covenants. Human are known to cut their losses and move on, sometimes without ever examining ways to manage conflicts that arise. More often than not, the same humans reproduce the same relationship scenario over and over again hoping the next time will be different and better without ever examining and developing ways to manage conflicts that arise.
Diligent love requires a maturity of understanding human behavior. Humans are seldom equal to their ideals or even what they say. Humans are noted for doing the exact opposite of what they say they would never do.
Diligent love requires open disclosure to relationship so all involved may know the pluses and minuses to be dealt with from time to time like self destructive behaviors; substance abuse, inability to manage money, or able to maintain livelihood.
Diligent love seeks to discover new ways to inspire the object of their affection in ways that prompt them to become more and better. Diligent love is the action that speaks louder than words.
Diligent love can be trusted to act in the best interest of the relationship or community at all times. It can be depended on to do what it says it will do.
Diligent love requires people mature enough to take on the shared task of diligent love willingly to work through conflict through communicating shared goals and reasons for initiating relationship in the first place. Contemporary language suggests diligent love has the back of the object of its affection just like God for humanity.
For God so loved the world, that God gave the best God can offer makes clear God's commitment to diligent love for humanity even though humanity is never going to be equal to God's hopes or expectations. Since God has demonstrated diligent love towards us, it is only appropriate the human response to God is diligent love for God and each other knowing we can never full appropriate it.
The human investment in diligent love when love is neither convenient nor generating euphoric bliss makes clear to the object of human affection that love can be trusted. Love can be depended on not to have to have its own way. Diligent love is constant like the rising and the setting of the sun.
Anyone who practices Christian Spirituality by imperative must be a person of diligent love. Diligent Love is the living out of intentional and on purpose affection for the object of affection whether it is ever fully reciprocated or not.
Next time, from the same text, we will examine component number two, amazing grace. Until then, May God bless you and keep you, care for you during your sleeping and your waking, in your going outs and your coming ins, in your labour and your leisure; May God make his face to always shine upon you and give you peace. Amen!
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