Love's Tipping Point

In the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “The love of Christ impels us,” which is true, but it leaves out a step. First the love of Christ frees us from the burden of believing we have to earn love or prove we are worthy of love. When we are able to accept Christ’s love and thus are freed from the perceived need to secure what is already ours, we no longer need to “live for ourselves.” Suddenly the energy we had been directing toward earning love or proving our worth is available to extend Christ’s love to others, and we feel impelled to do so.

 The inspirational people throughout history who laid down their lives for others did so out of the security of knowing God’s love for them. Such security is true power, because there is no stronger force than love, which seeks to free the prisoner and lift up the oppressed. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” The messengers of love—like Jesus, like Martin Luther King Jr.—are sometimes killed by those who fear their power, but Christ’s love cannot be quenched. It rises up again and again in all of us who are freed and impelled by love. Eventually we will reach a tipping point when enough people “harness for God the energies of love” (as Teilhard de Chardin expressed it), and we will discover that the kingdom of God was within us and in our grasp all along.