Philosopher Rene Descartes put forth the tenet, “Cogito Ergo Sum,”  meaning “I think, therefore I am.”  If you have taken any survey courses in philosophy, then you have come across this statement.  If not, you may be aware of it from the line of irreverent t-shirts that put forth less savory activity in a syllogistic format.  Either way, this line of thinking has played well into the devils push to move western civilization towards secularization.

Now Descartes did provide a valuable tenet that we need, but it is only part of the equation.  From there, we need to build on what he started and we do that by looking at theism, specifically Christian theism as revealed in the Bible and the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.  While the Rationalists did cast a wide net about the nature of man, a nature that separates us from animals, we must interpret what we know about man in light of who God is.  We are not merely machine with the ability to think, we are creatures who incorporate thinking to administer the transcendent aspects of our life.  These are the intangibles of our experience such as love, compassion, anger, empathy, grief, joy, happiness, affection, logic, mathematics, intuition, recollection, memory, dreams and every other emotion that we experience.  All of this makes up the person and the reason that we have the ability to experience and interpret these experiences is because of who God is and who He made us to be.  More importantly, He made us in His image so that we can know Him, have communion with Him and love Him for who He is and what He has done for us.  To live in that reality is what transforms us to be His hands and feet in this world, to love one another with Holy Love, not merely human affection.

The Bible says that God is love.  That is not to say that love is God, but rather that the God of all creation is characterized by His love and affection for the creatures He made in His image.  There are many bible verses that speak to this such as John 3:16, but Jesus also preached this many times.  He specifically told us that all men will know we are His followers (disciples) if we have love for one another (John 13:34).  He told us that there is no greater love than a man lay down His life for His friends (John 15:13).  In marriage, we are told that we express love to our wives by living sacrificially and laying down our life for her (Ephesians 5:25).  In the Sermon on the Mount, we are told to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-45).  C.S. Lewis wrote in ‘Mere Christianity’ that “to love our enemies does not mean that we are to like them or agree with their actions.”  This is an important point not to miss because this is what separates human love from the love of God.  Human love is selfish and rests on reciprocity, but Jesus shows us that this type of love is common to the natural man, but the love of God is supernatural and this what we are called to live out on Earth (Matthew 5:46-48).

This is important for two reasons: first, because our identity is not merely that we have the ability to think and process thought, but rather we are creature with the ability to love because God is love and gave us that ability (1 John 4:19).  This is the core of the Christian life.  As much as we complicate it with rules and programs, the bottom line is that we are called to love God and love people (Matthew 22:37-39; cf. Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18).  That is what characterizes our identity.  Now I do not want to over simplify it, but I do want us all to get our eyes on the target, the eyes of our head and the eyes of our heart!  So let me start by saying that the love spoken of in the bible is agape, which is most closely translated as charity.  This is not romantic love or erotic love or brotherly love, but rather a love that transcends personhood.  This is a love that is administered in principle according to the desire of God, not according to the merit of man.  God will grant this power and we see Paul pray for the Ephesians to receive the power that enables this love, power that gives us the ability to love without boundaries, without being detoured by our human sensibilities (Ephesians 3:14-21).  This type of thinking is thought foolish by the world, but that follows as we know through our spiritual knowledge that this hard work is unknowable and impossible to understand without the Holy Spirit.  This is the very reason that God stepped into time (Philippians 2:6), lived the life we are called to live (Philippians 2:7-8) and sent us His Spirit to guide us (John 14:25-27).

The second reason is that people were created to be in community.  This is first stated by God at the outset of creation.  After God created Adam, He stated that “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18).  So God created Eve as someone who is suitable for Adam, thus God created marriage (Genesis 2:18-25).  This gift of community is granted by God that we would live out the attributes He imputed on us when He created us in His image.  We are not just machines that think, we are beings that love and express that love in the fruit of the spirit such as patience, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, meekness, charity, sacrifice, service and so on.  Perhaps we express love through discipline or we express love through demonstrating a forbearing spirit; perhaps love is expressed when we provide our enemies with food and beverage.  Whatever the vehicle is to express love for others, we must always be mindful of the fact that it is God who moves us and it is in him that we live and move and have our beings (Acts 17:28).  We may not be mindful that every action begins with a thought, but we should be aware that thinking is a mechanism by which we exercise and facilitate the divine attributes of faith, hope and love.  Hope is powered by faith that is rooted in love, because love in it’s purest form is eternal.  When love breaks the barriers of time to give life to possibilities, our hope persists, but this only happens when our faith is whole heartedly in He who is not bound by time, He who showed us the greatest love when He stepped into time!