© 1977 Richard Keeler
© 1977 The Urantia Book Fellowship (formerly Urantia Brotherhood)
What is love? “Love is the desire to do good to others.” (UB 56:10.21) It is the “…secret of beneficial association between personalities,” (UB 12:9.2) and “…does connote man’s highest concept of the mortal relations of respect and devotion…” This “… matchless affection of the living God for his universe creatures” is the “… supreme reality of the universe … ” (UB 2:5.11, UB 177:2.3) “… love is the greatest thing in the universe …” (UB 56:10.20)
Love is either human or divine. Human love may be sexual or non-sexual. If it is non-sexual, it is either parental or brotherly. All genuine love comes from God.
What are some of the good effects of loving others? One gains self-respect by receiving God’s love and passing it on. Love seems to purge one of ill will, grudges, and brooding. Love crowds out fear and makes facing difficulties easier. The more one loves, the better one feels, the more righteously one acts, the more maturely one behaves, the closer to God one becomes. A loving personality possesses a spiritual fragrance which brings out the best in others.
To love another person, one first has to get to know him. Understanding grows into tolerance, which buds into friendship, which effloresces into love,
One can practice love by getting involved with others and serving them. Service is like the surf: God’s love is coming in and man’s love is going out. Where they meet, there is a wave of service.
Jesus exhorted his followers to love freely, unselfishly, and intelligently. To love wisely is to realize that the self has certain rights, and deserves time, attention, too.
If one really wants to love others, one must practice parental love, loving others as one believes God loves them. Parental love immeasurably transcends brotherly love. It always looks for the best in others and delights in returning good for evil.
John Zebedee once asked Jesus how he could learn to be more loving. You will be, Jesus told him, when you learn to love God more.
— Richard Keeler