That we may clearly comprehend this subject (the mark of the prize, perfect love), let us notice how small were the beginnings of this grace of love in our hearts; and let us hope that many, as they trace the matter here, and compare it with their own experiences, will be able to find large developments in their own characters – that they have passed one after another of the quarter-mile marks in the way, and that they are rapidly nearing, if they have not already reached, “the mark of the prize.”

(1) The beginning of our experience as Christians the Apostle expresses, saying, it was not that we first loved God, but that “he first loved us” – that attracted us to him. (1 John 4:19.) A sense of justice told us that since God had so loved us as to redeem us at so great a cost, and to provide for us so great salvation, it would be as little as we could do – it would be our duty to love and serve him in return. This beginning of love we will designate as duty-love. It lacked in many respects qualities which now permeate our love for God, which is of a higher, a more advanced character, because we have grown in grace, and in knowledge, and in love. The Apostle seems to speak again of this same duty-love, when he says, “The love of Christ constrains us [draws out our love in return]; for we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead [under divine sentence, the curse]; and that we who live [who have been justified to life through faith in Jesus’ redemption] should henceforth live not unto ourselves but unto him who died for us.” (2 Cor. 5:14,15.) Here again it is the “should“-love or duty-love, – the first, the crudest, the simplest development of our love toward God, our starting-point in the race toward perfect love.

(2) After we had exercised the duty-love and sought to obey God, not only in the avoidance of sin, but also in sacrificing our earthly interests and rights for his sake and the truth’s sake, in obedience to his will – in obedience to duty-love – we began to find in our hearts an appreciation of the principles of righteousness; we began to love righteousness – justice, mercy, love: not at first with a fervency of love, but rather with respect for the glorious qualities of the divine character, plan and law. This was our first quarter-mile mark, so to speak – love of principles of righteousness.

(3) The more we learned to love these elements of divine character, the principles of righteousness which find their perfect representation in the divine being, and through which the divine being is revealed to the eyes of our understanding – in that proportion the true love to God (based upon principles rather than upon duty), comes into our hearts. So, to speak, here in the race-course we had gained the second quarter-mile mark – love of God’s character; even though we had not yet discerned the length and breadth and heights and depths of that character, we had begun to love the Lord in the true way – from appreciation not only of what he had done for us, but also and specially for what he is; – from appreciation of his character.

(4) Love of God from this latter standpoint as the representative of every grace and every virtue, as the representative of righteousness, and the opponent of every injustice and inequity, led us to seek and to follow out these principles amongst our fellow-men, as well as in our own characters. As we began to love truth, purity, nobility of character, wherever it could be found, we found some of it in a mottled and streaked condition even in the world of mankind: we found that the original law of God, written in the heart of father Adam, although largely erased and obliterated from the hearts and consciences of his children, is not wholly gone; – that to some extent, especially under the influence of Christianity in the past eighteen centuries, some features of this perfect law may be dimly discerned amongst men.

But our scrutiny, backed by our increasing love of these principles of righteousness, found nothing satisfactory amongst natural men – nor even amongst those professing godliness – professing to be followers in the footsteps of Jesus. We found these all, like ourselves, far short of perfection, far short of the glory of God. But as the true love, of right principles, burned in our hearts more and more fervently, we learned to sympathize with the entire “groaning creation,” and to “love the brethren;” for in the latter we perceived a class inspired by the same spirit by which we ourselves had been begotten of God, the spirit of the truth; we saw some of them struggling as we had struggled, with appreciation only of the duty-love; we saw others who had gained a higher conception than this, who had learned to appreciate the principles of righteousness and to love them, and to hate iniquity, and further, to love the God who is the embodiment of these. And the realization that these “brethren,” like ourselves, were gradually approximating the divine standard – “pressing toward the mark” – filled us with interest in them and in their battle against sin and its weaknesses, and against the Adversary and his beguilements. We became more and more interested in their welfare and overcoming in proportion as we were striving and making progress in the same “narrow way.”

This love of the brethren we did not have at the beginning; it marks a distinct progress in our race toward the “mark;” we might term it the third quarter-mile mark. But although a grand attainment was achieved when this love of the brethren reached the point of willingness to “lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16), yet it was not the full attainment of the “mark” for which we are running.

(5) The “mark of the prize” is a still higher attainment in love; – the one which we understand the Scriptures to point out as the very highest attainment is that of loving our enemies – not merely tolerating them, abstaining from injuring them, etc., while thinking evil of them; but far beyond this, it signifies the full purging out of all anger, malice, hatred, envy, strife, not only from our actions but also from our words, and even from our thoughts, our sentiments.

It means such a complete triumph of love in our hearts as not only loves God supremely and delights to sacrifice in his service from love of the principles represented in his character, and love for the brethren, which makes us careful of their feelings and interests, and ready to lay down our lives on their behalf, to deliver them from evil, or to avoid putting a stumbling block in their way, but it means additionally that the love of God has been so thoroughly shed abroad in our hearts that we can love and do love every intelligent creature, and delight to do good unto all men, and to serve all men as we have opportunity, especially the household of faith. – Gal. 6:10.

This does not mean that the love which we have for the world must be of the same kind that we have for the Lord, who is the personification of righteousness, and for the “brethren,” who are striving to have Love, the righteousness of the Law, fulfilled in them through Christ. It means rather a sympathetic love; a benevolence such as God himself exercised toward the whole world of mankind.

It does not mean that we are to love the world in the sense condemned by the Apostle when he said, “Love not the world, neither the things of the world.” (1 John 2:15.) It does mean the attainment of the condition indicated in the expression, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believe on him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16.) It is a love for the world, which will not only be glad to see them lifted up out of degradation and sin to holiness and purity and righteousness, but which will be glad to cooperate to these ends as opportunities may offer – not, however, anticipating God’s love and the development of his plan of the ages (running ahead); but co-working with God in that great plan (His plan), which he has promised shall eventually bring, during the Millennial age, blessing to every creature through the elect class now running in this race for attainment of the “mark,” to win the great prize of joint-heirship with his Son. This perfect love, which, including the other developments, extends even to enemies and those who injure us and speak evil of us falsely for Christ’s and righteousness’ sake, is the fourth mark in the race – “the mark for the prize.”

We conclude our subject in our next post.