September 27: Love Caved in Upon Itself

God created us to return His self-giving love by loving Him back with every fiber of our being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. But in our sinful, fallen condition, our love turns in upon itself and we become lovers of ourselves. Our souls, created to face outward in self-giving love, in self- absorption cave in upon themselves. Made to serve God and others, we now serve ourselves.

In case that feels like an overstatement, just think of the last group photo you were in. When you got to see the picture, who did you look at first? And what makes it a good picture? It comes down to how you look. See, we tend to look to ourselves first. It’s our automatic instinct, the impulse of our sin-cursed souls. We love ourselves.

In many ways, the core of humanity’s problem comes down to disordered love. We were created to love God with all that we are and live in self-giving love for our neighbor. But we enthrone ourselves as the chief object of our love, and our souls cave in upon themselves. We become small, selfish, and self-absorbed. Everything starts to become about us. It’s our career, our goals, our family, our relationships, our ambition, our needs, our story, and our lives. And whatever success or fame or wealth or achievements we amass in this life, we can never offset the incurvature of our self-loving souls. What good is it if a person gains the whole world and yet forfeits their soul?

Our souls were made for self-giving love, and yet in self-love have caved in upon themselves. Left to ourselves, the incurvature of our souls will only grow, and we increasingly diminish. Our soul’s only hope is a radical reversal of the situation. How do we learn to love again?