Kiss of the Spirit
True love is based on the truth and the image of God, and it involves loving the very other person, not just their attributes.
George MacDonald preaches about the awakening of true love from beneath the rose leaves of illusions and dreams, emphasizing the need for genuine connection beyond surface likings and fancies. He highlights the journey of two individuals moving from mere commonalities to a deep unity where they see and are seen for who they truly are, ultimately meeting in the majesty of truth and the image of God through the power of authentic love.
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"While one is yet only in love, the real person lies covered with the rose leaves of a thousand sleepy-eyed dreams, and through them come to the dreamer but the barest hints of the real person. A thousand fancies fly out, approach and cross, but never meet. The man and the woman are pleased, not with each other, but each with the fancied other. The merest common likings are taken for signs of a wonderful sympathy, of a radical unity. But though at a hundred points their souls seem to touch, their contact points are the merest brushings, as of insect antennae. The real man, the real woman, is all the time asleep under the rose leaves. Happy is the rare fate of the true............ to wake and come forth and meet in the majesty of the truth, in the image of God, in their very being, in the power of that love which alone is being! They love, not this and that about each other, but each the very other. Where such love is, let the differences of taste, the unfitness of temperament, be what they may, the two must by and by be thoroughly one.
George MacDonald.
"The negative and positive relation we live daily causes us to emerge from beneath the rose leaves and penetrate each other so as to have really seen and be seen. It takes the negative to arouse each of us from our sleep.......But the miracle of love that comes to birth each time forgiveness appears is truly the kiss of the spirit.
Sermon Outline
- The Illusion of Love
- The Reality of Love
- The Power of Forgiveness
- Forgiveness is necessary to awaken us from our sleep and see each other truly
- It leads to the miracle of love, the kiss of the spirit
Key Quotes
“Happy is the rare fate of the true............ to wake and come forth and meet in the majesty of the truth, in the image of God, in their very being, in the power of that love which alone is being!” — George MacDonald
“They love, not this and that about each other, but each the very other.” — George MacDonald
“The miracle of love that comes to birth each time forgiveness appears is truly the kiss of the spirit.” — George MacDonald
Application Points
- We must look beyond superficial attractions and seek a deep connection based on the truth and the image of God.
- Forgiveness is necessary to awaken us from our sleep and see each other truly.
- True love involves loving the very other person, not just their attributes.