“As in any serious relationship of love, the appropriate response to love is to resonate with the will, purpose, desire, hope, and intention of the one who loves. Love is a dense term. Clearly it is a covenant word that means to acknowledge sovereignty and to keep one’s oath of loyalty, on which the covenant is based”
Dr. Walter Brueggemann
There are three notions that can be extrapolated from the two principles that have been set forth here that can serve us well as a caviat over and against the mis-education concerning the universal principle of love. The first notion to be set forth would be that lust (libido/driving impetus or desire) should not be mistaken for love (agape/leading impetus or responsibility). The two can reveal themselves and appear as the same principle in visage when in fact the duly noted contradistinction is that lust, (if it does not have the proper motivation to lead to one taking responsibility for the other subject of affection) will undoubtedly lead to estrangement setting in on the two relational participants leaving both dissatisfied and disillusioned. When this impulse is transferred to a new relationship the cyclic spiritual abuse is parasitically passed to a new participant. The second notion to set forth is that the animistic dimension of emotion should not be the leading impetus when it comes to the mystical (unseen spiritual realm) or pragmatic (corporeal/physical realm) expressions of love. Emotion cannot probe the psychological depth of the human spirit in order to discern the spiritual deficits that may reside there which can reveal themselves later on to be destructive in nature as it concerns the subjects of love. Logic, aided by Divine wisdom (theonomous thinking) is the proper leading impetus as it relates to the universal principle of love because it discerns the true motives of the heart by establishing the principle of responsibility as a safe guard over/against lust that leads to estrangement. The final notion to be set forth is the principle of responsibility as the litmus test of true love. When lust/libido has conceived it must receive proper check and balance by applying the principle of responsibility to the one whom we have entered into covenant with. This ensures that both participants have a concrete ground of faith (both mystical and pragmatic) to stand upon ensuring a proper opportunity for love to flourish and deepen. If this process is ever disrupted, estrangement begins to set in leading to the potential/actual demise of the gift of love between the participants. In love we must be ever wise, maturing, and growing in our education of expression of such a magnanimous gift. (Another oil point of “Theology Nation”)
-Bishop Dr. Guy A. Cox