Tag—You're It

The first letter of John says something curious: “If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn 4: 12).

Wait a minute! That seems to imply that God’s love isn’t perfect unless we love one another! How can that be?

Apparently, love isn’t brought to perfection until it expands in ever broader circles. Love has always been shared within the Trinity—Creator, Son, and Spirit—but such love could not be contained, so an ever-expanding universe was created. God loves us into being and then says, “Tag—you’re it!” In other words, as John says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another” (1 Jn 4: 11).

The Holy Spirit is our guide in this quest to be a link in God’s desire to bring love to perfection. The fervor and joy of the disciples who first received the Spirit could not be contained, and the good news of Jesus the Christ spread rapidly throughout the world. Now it is our turn to be messengers of God’s love. We don’t need to travel to distant countries to do so; not only do we have the power of the World Wide Web at our disposal, but the people we encounter every day also need reminders of God’s everlasting love. If we find it difficult to reach out to them, we can pray to the Spirit to help us.

God, who has done so much for us, doesn’t need anything from us—but we can choose to offer this gift of helping to bring God’s love to perfection. It’s an honor to be part of this eternal chain of love.