And yet it may perhaps be asked, How is it possible for us to love everybody? What about those who are not lovely and lovable—how can we love these? It may help us to remember that there is a clear distinction between loving and liking. While it is impossible to like everybody, it is assuredly possible to love everybody. A mother loves her wayward son, but she cannot like him, for there is practically nothing “alike” between them. In the same way we may love with the love of compassion if we cannot love with the love of complacency, and thus fulfil our Lord’s command and realise the answer to the Apostle’s prayers. This, we may be perfectly certain, is the supreme thing, and our Christianity will count for nothing in the eyes of men if it is not permeated and energised through and through with active, whole-hearted, Christ-like love.
Consider the ultimate purpose he expresses—“To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness.” The love for which he prays is to be expressed in holiness. The meaning of holiness throughout the Old and New Testaments is “separateness.” The idea is that of a life separated unto God, dedicated, consecrated to His service. Wherever the words “holiness,” “sanctification,” and their associated and cognate expressions are found, the root idea is always that of separation rather than of purification. It involves the whole-hearted and entire dedication of the life to God. The cognate word “saint” does not strictly mean “one who is pure,” but “one who belongs to God.”
The sphere of this holiness is to be in “your hearts.” It is always to be noticed that in Scripture the “heart” includes the intellect, the emotions, and the will. In a word, it is the centre of our moral and spiritual being; and when this is understood we can see at once the point and importance of the heart being holy, for it is only another way of saying that our entire being is to be separated from all else in order to be possessed by, and consecrated to, God.
The standard of holiness is also brought before us in this prayer—“Stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness.” The Apostle prays that they may be steadfast, not weak and vacillating. The great need was for solidity and steadfastness, as it is in the present day, for it is only when the heart is established by grace and in holiness that it can in any true sense serve God. This emphasis on a fixed or stablished heart is brought before us several times in Holy Scripture (cf. Ps. lvii. 7, cviii. 1, cxii. 7; Heb. xiii. 9).
And steadfast hearts will be “unblameable” hearts, hearts that are not blameworthy. A clear distinction is to be drawn between unblameable hearts and unblemished hearts. A little child may perform a task which in the result is full of blemishes, though the child, having done his best, is entirely without blame. In like manner, though the believer is not free from blemish, it is nevertheless possible for him to live free from blame. This is the meaning of the Apostle, and the reason of his prayer.
In all this we can see the close connection between love and holiness. When our hearts are filled to overflowing with the love of God to us, and of our love to Him, the inevitable result is holiness, a heart separated unto God, “strengthened with all might,” and “ready unto every good work.”
Consider the great incentive he urges—“Before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” The Apostle puts before his readers the great future to which they were to look, and he urges upon them this love and this holiness in the light of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that it will mean to the people of God. St. Paul draws a wonderful picture of that day in a very few words. He speaks first of all of God’s presence there: “Before God, even our Father.” Then he reminds us of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And last of all he tells us that “the saints” will be there also. Thus, surrounded by our fellow-Christians, and in the presence of our God and Saviour, we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known, with hearts “unblameable in holiness.”
This, then, is what the Apostle prays for his beloved friends in Thessalonica—abounding love and perfect holiness. This is Christianity and the normal Christian life. How simple it all is, summed up in the words Love and Holiness. And yet how searching it is! The simplest things are often the most difficult, and while it is possible for the believer to do great things and to shine in great crises, it is not always so easy to go on loving day by day, and to continue growing in grace and holiness, until the heart becomes so stablished in grace that our Christianity becomes the permanent character of our life. Yet this is God’s purpose for each one of us. And the fact that the Apostle prayed for this is a clear proof that an answer was expected, and that the purpose can be realised.