Friday 28 February 2014

The Inward Curvature of the Heart

The Inward Curvature of the Heart.

  " The beginning of love is the will to let those we love to be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them'.

                                          Thomas Merton .

      Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who welcomed the 'four walled freedom' of monastic life. This quote from his work 'No Man is an Island' reflects part of his own pilgrimage as a Christian mystic whose writings have inspired many.
     His comment on human nature is similar to that observed by Martin Luther, who thought there was an 'inward curvature of the heart' in all of us, distorting even our best efforts with a propensity to honour the qualities that we most admire in ourselves. I find Jesus' words on this inclination of the heart very helpful and therapeutic:

  " You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' " But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, " that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. " For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? " And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? " Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect".

                                       Matthew 5 v 43-48

     Christian love is far more radical than merely 'loving our own', or loving those qualities we see in others that we admire in ourselves. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to live and love the Jesus way. The apostle Paul would comment that 'we are always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body' ( 2 Cor 4 v 10). His insights put a fresh clothing of understanding on what Jesus meant by ' picking up our cross daily, and following Him'. The degree to which the selfless, incarnational love of Christ is revealed in and through me is the barometer reading of how intentionally I am embracing the Cross of Christ. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up, and can never be a substitute for love.
      At a conference two years ago, the writer and apologist Os Guiness gave one of the most helpful answers to one of the most challenging questions facing the church today. He was asked ' How do we respond to those like Richard Dawkins who are being so aggressive and militant against the Christian faith'? His answer was 'that our love card must always stretch further than our truth card. As Christians we are first and foremost defined by our reflecting the love of Jesus. When people know they are loved, they are more likely to listen to the truth we embody'.
   It is one thing to quote, but quite another to outwork and live this simple but profound truth. The inward curvature of my heart would prefer to throw hand grenades of truth from a distance, and reserve my love for those who most reflect the morals and ethics I admire. Applying the Jesus plumbline, it is how much I love my enemies and bless those that persecute me, that reflects how deeply the cross has transformed my life.
    Alan Scott, pastor of Causeway Vineyard commented that ' We don't love our communities in order for them to become Christians. We love them because we are Christians'. This is far more than a play on words.
    In every community there are people whom we find difficult to love, perhaps even open enmity between families. Do we only love those that we think are likely to become a Christian? Do we only love those who are 'open to our message'? Do we only love those who have qualities that we admire? Do we only love those who have the means to repay us in kind?
    I find that asking these questions gets to the heart of what Merton was exposing in his reflections. Without the daily application of the Cross I quickly revert back to simply loving those qualities that I can see and admire in others. Without the Cross, my attempts to love are flawed by the inward curvature of my heart. Only by embracing the Cross can I begin to incarnate the unconditional love of Christ towards my neighbour, whoever that may be, and wherever that may take me.