We have grown up around spiritual people. We have heard their testimonies. We can observe their lives. We can deeply admire them. We can adopt their words and jargon, thinking that somehow it has become our own. We may go through certain steps that they said they went through. We may even think that we have arrived where they were because we are saying all the right things. But in the end we may become loveless imitations of the genuine. Without the love that fulfills true spirituality we end up in a kind of spiritual delusion. It will take much repentance to bring us out of such a place. Brokenness, humility, rejection of pride and deep cries for mercy can bring us to a place of genuineness and authentic love.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8 (NASB)
