Love's Tenderest Chord is Found in Sorrow
By Clarence Santee
H E that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:8. Love is, and has always been, closely allied to sorrow. God's love for man, after he had fallen, was so great that in the person of His Son, His heart was broken. The Spirit of God, quivering with that depth of sorrow that man, calloused with sin, never has known or can know, one thousand years before it was fulfilled upon the cross, cried out, "Reproach hath broken My heart." Ps. 69:20. That this refers to the death of the Son of God is made certain by the next verse, which reads, "They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." Matt. 27:34 gives the fulfilment of this when Christ was upon the cross. That great heart in which was a place for every son and daughter of Adam's ruined race, was broken under the weight of their sins, as with a "loud voice" He cried out, and so suddenly died. Matt. 27:50. The depth of love for another, is measured by the depth of sorrow for the misfortunes of that loved one. I have seen a little child lying cold in death. Kind friends had gathered around sympathizing more with the living than for the dead. But there was one who wept with pale face and aching heart, for that dead child, and could not be comforted. Why the difference?—It was her child. She was its mother. In Isa. 49:15, God uses this tender illustration to convey to our hearts something of the love He bears toward us. He says: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have7compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." A mother—impossible as it may seem—"may forget;" yet when human love fails, God's love remains, constant and strong. "The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jer. 31:3. Unselfish love hesitates at no sacrifice, measures no difficulty. The path may lie among thorns, and the heart be deeply scarred; but the experience could not be purchased with treasure. It is sacred. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. Many to-day stop short of the privileges granted them. They feel but a small portion of that love which makes duty a pleasure, a privilege, and which will cause them to sacrifice joyfully to aid in pushing forward the closing work of God in the earth. Giving for others is the life of the Christian. Christ multiplied the loaves and the fishes for the five thousand who were faint and hungry; but when near death from hunger and thirst Himself, and urged by Satan to exert His power for Himself, and command stones to be made bread, He refused: He waited God's care, and "angels came and ministered unto Him." Matt. 4:11. Christ's love forgets self in helping others. Have you this witness? One writer has said: "When left alone, Jesus 'went up into a mountain apart to pray.' For hours He continued pleading with God. Not for Himself but for men were those prayers."—"Desire of Ages," pp. 378, 379. "Neither pray I for these alone," said Jesus, "but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word." John 17:20. Self has no place in the Christian's pathway. "The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master." Luke 6:40. "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him." 1 John 3:2, last part. With these graces woven into the character, God can call all the world to behold Him in His children. "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given Me." Isa. 8:18. The servant must be as his master. Is the standard too high? When receiving all as a free gift, is it not as well to accept of the whole treasure gladly, as to bargain for a part, and then halt in unbelief? All is for you; and accepting of all, does not detract from the fulness held out to every other soul. Instead, God has in you, when you have accepted of the free gift of His righteousness, another light to shine out in this world's moral darkness. Take the love out of a man's religion, and you have only a reproduction of the prophets of Baal who in blind zeal cut themselves until their blood flowed; or of the worshipers of Juggernaut, who, at the instigation of their priests, threw themselves before the wheels of his car, being crushed to death, with the hope that in this way his anger would be appeased. Fear, not love, is the offering thus given. Christ says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt. 5:48. His bidding gives the power. From other scriptures we learn that the word "perfect" means sincere, true. Deut. 18:13 reads, "Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God." The margin says, "upright or sincere." Gen. 17:1, last part, reads, "Walk before Me, and be thou perfect," margin, "upright or sincere." There is no person who is too weak to be sincere. A man may know but little of the great truths of God's Word, yet be sincere; and being so he is accounted perfect before God. It is not the amount of truth known, that will acquit a man before the bar of God; but it is the sincerity with which he accepts truth sent him from God, and the sincere desire he has to learn more. The loving heart is the longing heart until all the secrets of the other heart are known and shared. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3. There is a blessing pronounced upon those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Then truly it is best to face honestly the question that means so much to you, "Lovest thou Me?"