(Love Received and Life Carried in Communion)
May 11 brings the believer into a profound simplicity: the life that truly knows the limitless love of God cannot remain turned inward, and the continual presence of Christ becomes sufficient ground for that life to remain steady.
1. Love That Moves the Life Outward
Chambers writes:
“The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way.” (My Utmost for His Highest)
Chambers speaks of a knowledge that does more than inform.
This is not doctrinal awareness alone. It is the inward realization of being loved by God without measure—a reality so deep that it alters the movement of the life itself.
The life no longer remains self-centered.
Love received becomes love expressed.
But this is not imitation by effort. The believer is not attempting to reproduce divine love from personal resources. Rather, the life that has truly received that love begins to move outward from the same source.
The compulsion comes from within the relation itself.
What has been received from the Father cannot remain inactive.
2. The Sufficiency of His Presence
Spurgeon writes:
“‘Lo, I am with you alway,’ is enough for my soul to live upon, let who will forsake me.” (Morning and Evening)
Spurgeon directs attention to the sustaining ground of that life.
The presence of Christ is not occasional encouragement, but continual sufficiency. “I am with you alway” means the life is never left to sustain itself apart from him.
Others may withdraw. Circumstances may change. The world may fail to remain.
But his presence remains constant.
And because it does, the soul has enough upon which to live.
Not merely comfort, but sustaining relation.
The life is carried not by surrounding support, but by the unbroken presence of Christ himself.
3. Where the Two Meet: A Life Filled and a Life Sustained
These truths meet in a single continuity.
The love of God received inwardly becomes the source from which the life moves outwardly. And that same life is sustained continually through the abiding presence of Christ.
One supplies the movement. The other supplies the endurance.
The believer does not love from self-generated compassion, nor continue by personal strength.
The life remains because he remains.
And from that abiding relation, love continues to express itself naturally.
4. Pastoral Orientation
May 11 calls for confidence and continuance.
Do not reduce the love of God to an idea. Let it become the inward source from which your life moves.
Do not fear being left unsupported. The presence of Christ is sufficient for the life.
As you continue walking “after the spirit,” you will find that the more deeply the love of God is received, the more freely it is expressed—and the more steadily the life rests in his continual presence.
Remain in his love.
Remain in his presence.
And you will discover a life that is not sustained by circumstance, nor limited by self, but lives from the unbroken communion of Christ himself.