You Don’t Have to Understand the Mechanics for the Love of God to Work

I nodded in agreement as my son explained the problem with his car. He had stopped by to drop off a few things and left the vehicle running in the driveway, listening for a particular sound. I waited a few seconds with him, straining my ears to no avail.

His explanation droned on, and I caught his wife’s eye. “Exactly…” I said, knowingly. “That’s what I suspected all along.” And we laugh because I am hopelessly inept with all things mechanical!

I can, however, drive a car, and I have spent many hours in the driver’s seat since turning sixteen without much knowledge of car “behavior” beyond the rudiments of the internal combustion engine! I also use an iPhone, clicking and making contact with the screen in ways that are consequential and (most of the time) produce the intended results—even though I understand only the very surface of what’s going on.

I don’t need to understand the mechanics to have it work for me!

The Blueprint for Love in Action

So when I’m straining and stretching to love the infuriating, the annoying, or the incomprehensible brother or sister in Christ whom God has assigned to me for my sanctification… how do I do it? How can the love of God be planted and grown in this cold, inhospitable, and often judgmental human heart?

Well, I don’t know HOW, but Paul the Apostle has given me the blueprint for love in action:

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
(Romans 12:9-13)

Notice that Paul doesn’t say one thing here about how I should feel as I “let love be genuine.” My assignment is to be busy shunning evil, showing honor, practicing patience, and praying without ceasing. I’m commanded to aggressively (and competitively!) knock myself out as I strive in His power to give up, show up, pay up, shut up, and throw open my front door with love as my only motivation.

I don’t have to understand the mechanics of sanctification to have it work for me.

C.S. Lewis offers significant clarification of the miracle that we can be “in Christ” as He actually operates through us:

"The whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts—we are his fingers and muscles, the cells of his body”

Do I understand how this can be? Not one bit, but I depend on it every single time I sit at the keyboard to write or open my teaching notes with a group of women.

A Prayer for God's Love

Just as I accept by faith the function of my car and my phone, Lord, help me to receive from you the wherewithal to fulfill Your command to love. Empower me to act out of obedience, knowing that You are faithful and You will not fail to equip me for all the righteousness that You want to perform through this jar of clay. Please finish what You’ve begun in me. Amen.

And what’s your challenge today? Even if you can’t SEE or UNDERSTAND how God can work and enable and empower you, it’s true: You don’t have to understand the mechanics to have it work for you!