The Comfort of Love by Baptist Weekly

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 9, 1882

The Comfort of Love.

By Baptist Weekly

To AN invalid friend, who was a trembling, doubting believer, a minister once said:—

“When I leave you I shall go to my own residence, if the Lord will, and when there, the first thing I expect to do is to call for a baby that is in the house. I expect to place her on my knee and look down in her sweet eyes, and listen to her charming prattle; and, tired as I am, her presence will rest me, for I love that child with unutterable tenderness. But the fact is, she does not love me; or, to say the most of her, she loves me very little. If my heart were breaking under the burden of a crushing sorrow, it would not disturb her sleep. If my body were racked with excruciating pain, it would not interrupt her play with her toys. If I were dead she would be amused in watching my pale face and closed eyes. If my friends came to remove the corpse to the place of burial, she would probably clasp her hands in glee, and in two or three days totally forget her papa. Besides this, she never brought me a penny, but has been a constant expense upon my hands ever since she was born. Yet, although I am not rich in the world’s possessions, there is not money enough in the world to buy that baby. How is this? Does she love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it to her?”

“Oh ! I see it,” said the sick man, while the tears ran down his cheeks; “I see it clearly. It is not my love to God, but God’s love to me that I ought to be thinking about; and I do love him now as I never loved him before.”

From that time his peace was like a river.—Baptist Weekly.