Often I have heard: "it is never wrong to love." Perhaps it is this thought that is most influential in making us see things in much more than fifty shades of gray in an otherwise colorful world. A man loving another man; a deprived wife finding satisfaction from another's husband; a free man living life as he wants; a desperate woman clinging to another; a rich man hungry for power; a poor man working for his family; we can see at least seven billion more varieties and nuances of love being justified by that one, globally accepted postulate: "it is never wrong to love."
To this I say: no. In fact, the love we see now is almost always wrong. I could go on with details and perhaps list cases and judge whether each case is right or wrong, because love can be wrong depending on the kind of love, manifestation, object of love, and timing etc. etc. But I think it more fruitful to lay down the one and only time that love is right.
Right and wrong is a controversial issue, and it would be best if we talked about this separately some other time. For now, rest in the fact that God is good. If you don't agree with this then I have nothing else to tell you. You can skip this now and move on with your life - I am serious. Now if you think it right then I will continue. By "God is good." I do not mean that there is some standard of good to which God is measured against. I mean that God is good, and good is God, and that He is goodness Himself, and that He is the standard by which good is measured. This kind of morality has no doubt been abandoned in this age, and I see this as the primary cause of the modern moral mayhem. I will try to convince you of this in some other note (only God can convince you).
Back to the main topic. Love, in all its forms, is only right when it is in God. This is the first and greatest commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, all your soul, and with all your strength." One need not be concerned whether the kind of love exhibited is appropriate because God demands all our love; or whether the object of love is appropriate because the object is first and foremost and solely God-who-is-good.
Also, because God demands all our love, and that disobedience to God-who-is-good is sin, we can therefore say that sin is but misplaced love. An obsessive love for money, power, objects (even fries and bacon), a country, an ideal, even for people: countrymen, students, the self, or any other - yes even family. I tell you the truth, "everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life." Any love that does not spring from the love of God is sin. Remember, the Lord our God is a jealous God. No man can serve two masters.
You may say, "if God is to have all love, then what about humans? What about the world? How can I love them then? This teaching is black and white; I cannot accept it." The key lies in the second greatest commandment: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Humanists would call this the first, but The Christ calls it second. And obviously, He calls it second because the first should take precedence. This brings us back to the question, "if I love God with all of me, then how do I love my neighbor, or how do I love her, or anyone else for that matter?"
Listen to the Christ: "If you love me, you will obey my commands." We can then see clearly from the first and second commandments that love of God overflows to others. Love of God, or love for God means loving people the way He loves. It does not consume; it is a spring from which life flows. This is what I mean by love that is in God: it is an overflow from the infinite love of God. And so it is alright for a man to love another man, or a woman to love another woman, or a poor man to love his family - as long as that love is in the love of God.
You would be right to notice that this context changes everything entirely: the type, manifestation, and timing of love, etc. would be only what is appropriate in God's sight. Now while that may sound boring to someone who has never tried it, let me at least describe to you a little of this great love that overflows. To love God-who-is-good is to see a colorful world: to be content and happy in wealth and in poverty, to enjoy His creation of birds and trees, to love your wife as Christ gave His life, to abhor wickedness yet love your enemies, and to persevere in trial then encourage with a smile.
I am aware that talking about love is probably not the best way to explain it. How can I possibly show you in black text the wonderful colors of the world as seen in Eternity's Light? If I describe to you a rainbow in an imagery that not even Orpheus can utter, it would do you little good unless you have seen a rainbow. I can describe my feelings when I see the color red, but to a colorblind I cannot describe the color. In my dreams I have seen a new color (at least I think so), but I cannot share the experience with anyone at all. I am no Orpheus, and I cannot possibly describe all the various hues and shades of a life in the love of God; with every new tint I see, it seems a hundred more is to be discovered (nothing less should be expected of an infinite God). If you were with me maybe I could minister to you and let you see a glint of Eternity's Light. But that is the best I can do. It would be better to see and experience for oneself. The Word of God lives and He can convince you of this: "It is never wrong to love, when love is in God."
