Not loving means saying that God never inspired our thoughts, our lives, and that we never came close enough to Him to be touched by His exuberant Love. It means:
‘I lived for myself, I thought for myself,
For myself and none beside,
Just as if Jesus had never lived,
as if He had never died.’
It is before God that the nations of the world will be reunited. It is in the presence of all men that we will be judged.
And each man will judge himself.
Gathered there together will be those we met and helped. Also present will be those we scorned and denied. There will be no need to call for witnesses, because our own life will be there as evidence of what we did.
No other charge – apart from a lack of Love – will be laid upon us.
Be quite sure, the words we will hear on that day will come not from theology, not from the saints, not from the churches.
They will come from the hungry and from the poor.
They will come not from creeds and doctrines.
They will come from the naked and the homeless.
They will come not from Bibles and books of prayer.
They will come from the glasses of water that we gave or did not give.
* * *
Who is Christ?
He who fed the poor, clothed the naked and visited the sick.
Where is Christ?
‘Whoever receives a little child in my name receives me.’
And who is with Christ?
‘Whoever loves has been born of God.’
* * *
By the time the young man had finished speaking, the sun had already set. The people got up in silence and went to their houses. They would never forget that day for as long as they lived. They had been touched by the Supreme Gift and wanted that afternoon to be remembered for a very long time.
‘Although, of course, it will not be remembered for ever,’ thought one of them. For as the young man quite rightly said: ‘Only Love endures.’