7. Pilgrimage to Paradise: "Warm Fuzzies"

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"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For 'all people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you."

When I posted my thoughts on 1 Peter 1:17-19, someone commented that love without justice and righteousness was just an empty word. That observation fits so well into these verses from 1 Peter 1:22-25.

The pilgrimage that produces springs in the desert, that gives life where there is no evidence of it, as is suggested in Psalm 84, cannot be simply a "warm fuzzy". Here, in Peter's words as recorded in 1 Peter 1:22-25, we read his challenge to these pilgrims, and to us, to love Biblically.

Peter's readers had come to faith through their obedience to the word that was preached to them, the Gospel that proclaimed the righteousness of God poured out on them because the justice of God was poured out on Jesus as their substitute. That is a love that is much more than a "fuzzy".

Their love for each other was to be as deep as that of Jesus. Peter seems to have evidence that these pilgrims have already lived this out as a consequence of the Gospel taking root in their lives. And now he encourages them to go further. And we too, as those into whom the righteousness of Christ has been implanted because He accepted the just punishment that we deserved, are encouraged to do the same.

People will come and go in our lives. We might have a long time to love them, or a very brief time. But the command to love them as Jesus would goes on and on, and remains the same whether or not our opportunity to love involves years or hours.

I wonder if Peter was thinking of that last night in the upper room when Jesus shared these words: "A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching…love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends…love each other." (John 13:34, 35; 14:23; 15:12, 13, 17)

To love like Jesus is to speak the truth in love, to exhibit righteousness not as an optional "add-on" to life but as the foundation and fruit of life, to be just and to encourage justice in others, to seed with that truth and water with that deep love, the arid ground of society and pray for the Spirit of God to move upon its darkness and bring life. It is sacrificial. It is selfless. It is 1 Corinthians 13: patient, kind, does not envy, or boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonour others. It is not self-seeking, and isn't easily angered. It doesn't hold grudges because some wrong has been done it. It doesn't take pride in evil, but takes great joy when good prevails. It protects others, trusts others, hopes and perseveres. It endures.

Only He can produce that kind of love in us. Only He can take that love and use it as a wedge to allow the light that Jesus brings to enter a dark heart. Only He can take that love and use it to bless another pilgrim on the way to Paradise.

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion." (Psalm 84:5-7)