The flame of God’s love dwells in my heart
as a jewel of gold is placed in a silver dish.

  - Attributed to Colum Cille, Noli Pater, Irish, 6th century[1]

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

  - 2 Corinthians 5.14, 15

The words of the LORD are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
You shall keep them, O LORD,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

  - Psalm 12.6, 7

This simile (“as a jewel of gold”) is attributed to Colum Cille, but it was probably attached to his poem “Noli Pater” (“Father, Do Not”), where it appears in an ancient manuscript, at a later date. It is, nevertheless, a beautiful and fascinating image for thinking about the effect of God’s love on our hearts.

Silver has a certain inherent beauty—shiny, luminous, and appealing. Just so the human soul, made in the image of God, is fraught with potential for refracting and radiating the beauty of Christ. The soul that has been converted to Christ has been refined in the forge of God’s Word and the furnace of repentance and faith, so that it has the quality of fine silver, ready to be employed in good works.

Set a brilliant golden jewel in that silver dish, shining with its own inherent luster, and the beauty of the jewel reflects in the silver, heightening and transforming the already-precious dish into something more beautiful than, by its own inherent potential, it could ever realize.

This is what the love of God does as it nestles and glows within our soul, bringing divine glory to fill our mind, heart, and conscience. As the beauty and glory of Christ become seated in our souls, the radiance of His love transforms us from within, drawing out the beauty of Christ’s own image, and issues in our words and deeds to edify others and glorify God—a wondrous combination of His uniqueness in ours. Thus the love of God is refracted through the love we show the people around us.

Whoever penned this couplet intended to identify with Colum Cille. As a scholar, evangelist, and disciple-maker, Colum, the first of the great Irish peregrini, reflected the truth of these lines. He was heir to an Irish throne but gave that up to become a scholar trained at the monastery of Finnian of Clonard. Thus, he brought many natural gifts and latent potentialities to the task of founding the monastic community on Iona. His soul transformed by the love of Christ and refined under the tutelage of Finnian, he was ready for whatever the love of God might require of him.

Events would lead him to rebel against his teacher and to foment a battle in which many died, merely to avenge what he considered be to a wrong done to him by Finnian and the local king. He was heart-broken at the violence and death he had caused; he repented and renewed his commitment to Christ and the Church, and submitted to banishment from Ireland as his just punishment.

Only the love of God could make all Colum’s potential for service glow with the radiance of Jesus Christ. Only the love of God could transform this hot-headed prince into a hot-hearted missionary. The renewal of Colum’s heart, and the reinfusing of it with the love of God, was the work of grace alone. He knew it, and so he followed wherever the grace of God led him, ultimately arriving at Iona to establish a community which would bring revival and awakening to Scotland and beyond.

Paul’s experience was the same. The love of Jesus, which he had come to know so well, filled and controlled him, and he longed for others to know the Savior who had captured him, saved him, transformed him, and lit up his soul with divine vision and love.

Does this flame of God’s love burn and glow in your soul? Are you brought to tears of gratitude as you contemplate the extent the Father has gone to forgive your sins and prepare you for His service? Does your life glow and radiate with the luster of the indwelling Christ? And are you moved—like Colum and Paul—to share that love with those around you?

We must submit afresh to the love of God every day, and seek His grace to help us, that we might refract His love, through our own words and deeds, to the people to whom He sends us.

Today is the day of salvation, another day for showing Jesus to the world. Pray for the people you will meet today, that the love of Christ will glow hot in your soul and control your every word and deed, so that others might experience the touch of God’s grace in you.

For Reflection
1. How can you use your morning time in prayer and Scripture to renew the love of God in your soul?

2. To whom is God sending you today, to show His love and refract His glory?

Psalm 39.1-4 (Woodworth: Just As I Am)
I said, “My ways now let me guard, that I may not sin against You, Lord;
When wicked men surround me hard, then guard my mouth, I pray, O Lord! 

No word I spoke, and sorrow grew; with burning soul I turned to You:
“Lord, make me know what I must do to live this fleeting life for You.”

T. M. Moore

Colum Cille
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All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Clancy and Márkus, p. 85.