Keeping Love in Order by ELISSA HUEBERT
Love. A simple word for a not- so-simple concept. The Bible commands us to love God, love people, love ourselves. Again, a simple idea, but so difficult in
application. We are defined by what we love. Love is what determines our priorities, our time, and our relationships, both with God and others.
Augustine explored the idea of love thoroughly in
“Confessions,” his autobiography with God as his audi- ence. He began his life in the fifth century devoted to finding fulfillment in seeking pleasure. He began to study Scripture, and as it often does, it changed the trajectory of his life. He slowly began to realize he would never gain fulfillment by chasing physical pleasure. God used the Apostle Paul's words to reach him one night as he prayed in his Milan garden. Paul said, “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Rom. 13:13-14 ).
Augustine embraced a personal relationship with
Christ and was baptized, dedicating his life to God’s service. He chose faith over questioning, and spiritual over physical. His life was devoted to studying a complete view of self in relation to God.
Augustine’s idea of disordered love is that love out of
order is sin. Love in its proper order is love for God, then love for others, then love for self. The Bible describes dis- ordered love as idolatry. Paul entreated believers, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).
John Calvin observed, “The human heart is an idol
factory.” Christians are constantly fighting disordered love and idolatry. What are personal idols? Author Tim Keller defines idolatry like this: “What thing, if you lost it, would almost mean that you would lose the will to live? What thing, lost, gone from your life, would mean that almost all value and significance — identity and worth — would be drained out of your life?”
Often, the other loves in ones life are worthy things:
family, career, hobbies, health, even the Church. It’s when these loves surpass God in importance, that love becomes disordered, and needs to be reordered. Rod Dreher, in his book, “The Benedict Option”, says, “The source of all disorder is loving finite things more than the infinite God.
Even loving good things, like family and country, can be a source of damnation if one loves them more than one loves God, and seeks fulfillment in those things, rather than in the Creator of those things.” Disordered love dis- rupts relationships with God and others, and, ultimately, leads to misery.
What does the Bible say about putting love in order?
1. Loving God first, above all else, is part of the process of sanc- tification. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous-
ness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
2. It’s important to identify idols and put them in their place. Colossians 3:7-10 says, “In these you too once walked, when you
were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” Only God’s grace satisfies and endures. Any other earthly thing can be lost. If one’s identity, joy, and fulfillment can be lost, then God is not first. Love of God in the proper order is the key to fulfillment outside of exter- nal circumstances. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
3. Putting love in order is not an independent task. Like so many aspects of Christian life, learning to love God above all and in all
circumstances is a work of grace learned through His power. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Let us pray with Augustine: “O Love ever burning,
never quenched! O Charity, my God, set me on fire with your love! You command me to be continent. Give me the grace to do as you command, and command me to do what you will!” (Confessions, X. 29).
Elissa Huebert has a degree in Communications/Jour-
nalism and Biblical Studies from Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska. Her writing has appeared in the Omaha World Herald, David C. Cook curriculum, and "Women’s Intuition Magazine." She lives in Omaha, where her family is blessed to be a part of Community Bible Church.
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