Consider what it means to love like God loves. The well-known scripture from John 3:16-17 states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish; but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. From these verses we learn that through the love of God one may obtain eternal life and not eternal condemnation.
Bringing eternal life to mankind is the work and glory of God (Moses 1:39 / DC 22:23b; The Sealed Book of Moses 17:23). This work of God has occurred in all dispensations of time and continues today in the Second Invitation. As recorded in Article 1 of the Revelations and Doctrines of the Second Invitation, the Lord Jesus Christ, through an angelic messenger, gave authority and power to Prophet Berger to bring the Church of Christ out of obscurity and darkness which brought a church without walls to mankind, allowing the fulness of the gospel of salvation to again be on the earth. We read in verse 52a:
The reestablishment of my Church, therefore, does not require that you found a new organization, but that I rescued the principles that govern the one that was spiritually restored in its fulness by the hand of my servant, Joseph Smith Jr, in a church without walls, founded by living stones, built on this foundation stone, and supported by the pillars of protection of the truth, to which a remnant sense of the ‘ORIGINAL CHURCH’ must burn in you, this being your common legacy, which zeal must ascend to the heavens as never seen before on earth, in whose spirit each member who is part of it, is imbued with the only purpose that builds the foundations of that organization, the fulness of the administration of my gospel among the children of men.
God’s vision is all-encompassing. There is not a soul on earth that he does not want to save from the destructive power of sin so that they may experience the fulness of the gospel in their lives. He is no respecter of persons. Therefore, God loves universally. He does not love with earthly love. He loves with a beautiful, divine love.
It is widely thought that love, in general, is an emotion. However, the social science researcher, Karla McLaren, astutely concludes that love is not an emotion. Although this statement sounds absurd, it is actually true—a paradox of life that is waiting for the mortal mind to unravel and comprehend. It is commonly, but incorrectly, asserted that love, like Plutchik’s basic emotions of fear, anger, sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, trust, and anticipation, is among the instinctive states of mind that people experience, concluding that love is the interaction of joy and trust. But this description of love puts walls around love, and effectively removes any trace of true godly love. Love is not held captive by emotions. True love still exists when a person is sad or happy; or fearful or confident. Human experiences do not cause true love to increase and decrease like the appearance of the moon over the course of a month. If love was an emotion, it would rise and retreat as needed. It would hide itself in the inner sanctums of our consciousness only to occasionally surface to meet a need. This would be absolutely illogical because we know this is not how the love of God is experienced in our lives.
God puts no walls around his love. The love of God comes to us without walls, beyond human definition, and defies understanding. Love is freely imparted by God himself to everyone. How can God universally love regardless of one’s sin or obedience, or fear or courage, or doubts or trust? The answer to this question is not complex. Simply stated, he just does! Yes, God loves his children with true godly love. This is the love of God; it is not human love. It is constant. It never rises and falls according to the circumstances. God’s love is unconditional which, by definition, breaks down the walls that mortals have placed around it.
I hope that you agree that love is not an emotion. It is in a unique category by itself. To talk about love is to talk about the very nature of God because God is love! A scripture from the Sealed Book emphasizes this point, “… the Gifts derived from the Fruits of the Holy Spirit are in fact pure feelings coming from a sanctified heart, in whose Greatest Gift, love, hides the fullness of God’s power” (The Sealed Book of Moses 5:31).
This month’s Herald contains two feature articles that highlight the very nature of God—the unconditional acceptance of a child, and unselfishly giving of oneself for the benefit of others. President Rafaela Berger presents, in her article “Break the Cycle”, a timely discussion about the nurturing and acceptance of children to enable them to grow in love and fulfill their potentials. President Berger says, “the family needs to break the cycle of prejudice.” I concur that love has no walls and every child must be accepted and lovingly shown the way to find their ultimate purpose and fulfillment in life.
The other article, written by Apostle Wagner Zeppenfeld, is titled “Testimony about the Experience in the Refuge of Zion South Unit.” In this testimony Apostle Zeppenfeld gives an account of his heart-felt desire to labor for Zion for the benefit of others. In sharing his experiences at the refuge, he is providing inspiration to his young son. Apostle Zeppenfeld states, “How wonderful it is to see my son telling others about the work I’m doing.”
These articles present a glimpse of the love flowing from the heart of God to his children, all of his children. Let us love one another without prejudices so that the full power of God is unleashed in our lives and everyone experiences the pure love of God. May we embody this godly love and share it unconditionally. May we love without walls.
