(See letter of 1907/11/02)

Love

You can scarcely find a word in our language that is as widely misused as the word “love.” Both verbally and in print, people claim that in the days of the apostles there was an abundance of love, but that in our time there isn’t any at all. It’s as though every single person is just sitting in their chair, demanding that others serve them and show them “love.” The shoemaker should make shoes for free, the tailor should make clothes for free, the publisher should distribute his paper at no cost, etc. And then, of course, if people don’t do that, they don’t possess an ounce of love. In Jesus’ time, people ran after Him by the thousands just to get their stomachs filled with bread. I think that same understanding of Christian life is also very prevalent today. However, it can safely be said that you will be hard pressed to find anyone who is more selfish and who is a greater lover of themselves than those who only demand and demand; they are like a bottomless pit that can never be filled.

True love has this quality: it only serves without thinking—not even for a moment—of receiving anything in return. It only sacrifices, never demands.

Do any of us possess anything with which we could repay God for sending His Son? God is love itself, and since God never makes demands, then we should also stop making demands—if indeed we have any intention whatsoever of running on the way that leads to the Father. It’s hard to find more useless creatures than those who just sit around, clinging to their fellow men like parasites and screaming to be shown love. It’s high time to wake up and, as we should, start being the ones to show love, even if we are rewarded with mockery and scorn. Let those who just want to sit on their couch, demanding to be served, stay right there; for neither in the days of the apostles nor in our days have such people been anything more than a weight and a burden. The Savior separated Himself from such people, and we, too, must completely separate ourselves from them. People like this only regard Christianity as a means of gain and as a way to nurture their own flesh. But we owe neither their flesh nor ours any comfort or care.

If only people would just open their eyes a little and look around them, they would discover that there is more love in our days than they could ever have imagined. The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. But the thing is that we can only love one another according to the Spirit, because we do not know one another according to the flesh. People who think that there is such an awful lack of love in our days probably go around looking for someone who will love them according to the flesh. Of course, they don’t find anyone, and so in anger they cry out, “There is no love in our days.”

By this we know that we love God, that we keep His commandments. But God’s commandments are that we should love one another. You can only do that when you have a pure heart; as it’s written, “Love one another fervently with a pure heart.” If a person just sits there cross and upset and cannot find love anywhere, my advice to them would be to really pull themselves together, repent radically, and turn to God in spirit and in truth. Then the Spirit, which possesses love, will no doubt reveal love to that person so thoroughly that they will begin to love all people. Then they will hardly be worried about whether or not everyone loves them. People’s usual perception of love is that it should put its tail between its legs and agree to anything and everything that is dished out. For my part, I have arrived at very different conclusions.

Yours, preserved in the chastening of love,

Horten, Oktober 29, 1907