If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3
“Where is love?” and I respond: Love is in a person’s heart and will, not in his hand or in his mouth; which means: not in his actions but in his soul. Now many people speak well and behave well and yet do not love God, such as hypocrites, who endure great self-disciplinary suffering, and appear devout in people’s opinion, but because they court adulation and the respect and popularity of mere mortals, they have lost their reward, and in God’s view they are the sons of the devil and ravening wolves.
However, if a person behaves with generosity and consideration to others, adopts simply poverty, and performs acts of self-discipline, this is a sign that he or she does love God; yet it is not through those acts that they are loving God, but by abandoning the world solely for the love of God and by directing all their attention to God, and loving all people as themselves, and doing all the good deeds which they are able to with the intention of pleasing Jesus Christ and arriving at the tranquil repose of heaven. Then they are loving God, and that love is in their soul, and consequently their actions reveal this externally.”
Richard Rolle (1300-1349) in “The Form of Living” from The English Writings by Richard Rolle, translated by Rosamund Allen (Classics of Western Spirituality; New York: Paulist Press, 1988) 175-176.
Rolle wrote in a time when people celebrated those who spoke and behaved well but failed to love God. Sound familiar? They would inflict suffering on themselves in public to attempt to demonstrate their allegiance to God before others. Really, they did! While the exhibitions may look different today, many still live out their faith for show but their focus is glory before people rather than obedience to God. Rolle adds that “in God’s view they are the sons of the devil and ravening wolves.” I concur.
So where is love in this broken and hurting world?
Rolle says it is found in generous people who adopt simplicity, self-discipline, and exhibit the abandonment of the world because they are solely focused on the love of God and directing all our attention to God. Let’s parse his statement so we don’t miss the brilliance.
First, “Simplicity” is the modern word for the Mediaeval expression “simple poverty”. In other words, material things don’t captivate the generous person. Second, the presence of “self-discipline” reveals consistency rather than hypocrisy. So we might ask this question: What genuinely captivates this person’s attention? The answer is: the God who is love.
If you want to bring love to this broken and hurting world, focus on one thing: the God who is love. Do that, and you will not only exhibit generosity, you will give the world the one thing it desperately needs and is looking for, whether they know it or not.