Teacher to Teacher, October 2008

as he should. He cannot care about his acquaintances and other fellow human beings as fully and truly as he should. He cannot rightly love even himself. This two-sided truth—that the exclusive love for God (“with all thine heart”) is not exclusive—lies at the heart of our understanding the love of ourselves. Satan would have us think we must love either God or ourselves, persuading some to choose love of self over God, and others from sincere love of God to reject natural personal desires from a false sense of spiritual duty. Heaven smiles on passionate human love in the Song of Songs. There is warmth in the description of Jacob’s long service for Rachel—seven years which “seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her” (Gen. 29:20). One of earth’s wonders for Solomon was “the way of a man with a maid” (Prov. 30:19). Satan also tries to convince us that love of others must compete with love of self, when the deep truth is that putting others’ good ahead of one’s own in no way threatens one’s own good. We have noted that when a husband in sacrificial, affectionate love seeks his wife’s good, he is also, without intending so, gaining his own. His love will be returned with interest. A surpassing concern for the good of others and beyond that for the good of God is the condition for one’s own good and the means of enlarging it. It is an inescapable universal truth that all good flows from subordination within the will of God. This subordination distributes value without diminishing it. Explaining subordination in the family structure, Paul finds an example in the executive order of the Godhead, in which the Son accepts the head- When we put the love of God foremost, we embrace an entire universe of values in which each love is rightly directed and enhanced. ship of the Father not just from duty but voluntarily from mutual love. So should the husband be subject to Christ, his Head, and the wife to her head, the husband—an order elaborated in Ephesians 5. In fact, all should “be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility,” wrote Peter (1 Pet. 5:5). Peter was quick to add that the way of submission is not the way of personal loss. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6; see also Luke 14:11; 18:14). “All things are yours,” said Paul, whether “things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor. 3:21–23). Even small enjoyments may be considered “ours.” The prophet speaks of happier times to come in Israel when “the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zech. 8:5). May we not suppose that just as God values the delights of children, He is pleased to grant us our delights as we keep our loves in their proper order? The delicate touches of His artistry in a beautiful sunset need not be beneath our notice. Nor need we ignore the beauty of a flower or in the song of a bird. The works of gifted musicians and painters and craftsman in joyous imitation of His own creative skill have their rightful place in our estimation. If He cares enough about what we might consider trifles of His creation to shower attention upon them, beautifying them beyond necessity, dressing them in fragile splendor, He must care about the small objects of our interests and desires as well. When we put the love of God foremost, we embrace an entire universe of values in which each love is rightly directed and enhanced. All that is false and perverse in self-love—the lusts of eyes and flesh, the pride of life; competitive self-serving and selfhonoring—is excluded. All loves are rectified and adjusted to one another in due downward honor—harmonized, enriched, and enhanced. We may love ourselves truly when, and only when, we truly and more greatly love our God. If you would like to gain all the comfort and guidance from this book, you may purchase a copy at http://www.bjupress.com/ product/251082 Teacher to Teacher | October 2008 page 7 http://www.bjupress.com/product/251082 http://www.bjupress.com/ http://www.bjupress.com/product/251082

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