“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;
and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Luke 10:27
Of friendships, Hannah Whitall Smith has said, “A certain
degree of reserve and distance seems to be the suitable
thing in certain friendships. But there are other relations in
life where… the friendship becomes love. The two hearts
give themselves to each other to be no longer two but one.
“A union of soul takes place… separate interests and
separate paths in life are no longer possible. Things that
were lawful before become unlawful now because of the
nearness of the tie that binds. The reserve and distance
suitable to mere friendship become fatal in love… the
wishes of one become binding obligations to the other, and
the deepest desire of each heart is that it may know every
secret wish or longing of the other in order that it may fly on
the wings of the wind to gratify it.”*
If you have ever known this kind of friendship, if you have ever
loved another enough to find sacrifice and service on his or her
behalf a joy, then let it be the same toward Christ, the Lover of
your soul. He loves you with far more than the love of friendship.
He loves you as His bride. What passion! How can we not be
passionate in return?
Be generous in your self-surrender and be eager to throw
yourself unreservedly at His feet. Jesus is calling you to a
place of intimate nearness with Him. Don’t hesitate!
Lord, I don’t want to go where You cannot go with me. I don’t
want to pursue anything in which You cannot share. I want to
love You with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. I echo
the words You said to our Father, “I desire to do Thy will,
O my God.” (Psalm 40:8).
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*Smith, Hannah Whitall, The Christians Secret of a Happy Life, Fleming H. Revell Company,
Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1976, p. 148.
