Some of you may remember from our Crusades Class a man by the name of Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard was the chief recruiter for the Second Crusade, which failed miserably and from which Bernard later disassociated himself. But fortunately, that is not his only claim to fame. He also wrote a small book entitled On Loving God, which describes four successive stages of spiritual development.

According to Bernard, stage one is “the love of self for self’s sake.” The psychological term for this would be narcissism, and it’s where each of us begins the human journey. Infants and small children, for example, tend to be notoriously self-absorbed. It’s always “gimme, gimme, gimme.” And to be honest, some folks never really move much past this point. They remain forever imprisoned in the solitary confinement of their own egos. However, most of us eventually realize that there is more to life than satisfying our own basic needs, and so we choose to keep growing.

The second stage is what Bernard calls “the love of God for self’s sake.” Granted, this is an improvement over the childish narcissism of stage one because we are now aware of an outside reality, but the focus is still primarily on ourselves. That is, we love God to the extent that the Almighty can help us to fulfill our own agendas. Hence, all of our prayers get sprinkled with personal requests—“Lord, grant me this … protect me from that … allow me to have the desires of my heart.” It’s probably the stage at which a lot of us get stuck, but it can be terribly frustrating if we try to stay there because, ultimately, God’s ways are not our own. God’s timing was never meant to conform to our schedules, nor does God exist only to solve our problems and serve our plans.

Bernard’s third stage marks a quantum leap forward. He refers to it as “the love of God for God’s sake.” It is at this point that we begin to appreciate that God has value—not just in terms of what God can do for us—but because of who God is. As a result, worship suddenly involves more than simply presenting the Almighty with a personal wish list, or trying to barter for a few extra blessings. It becomes a time filled with wonder, awe, and praise.

You would think that this would be the highest level of spiritual enlightenment. However, for Bernard, it is only the third stage. There remains a fourth—“the love of self for God’s sake.” It’s when we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. It’s the ability not just to accept ourselves, but to celebrate our existence. After all, the Book of Genesis says that when humankind was created, we were fashioned in God’s own image. In effect, we are God’s signature piece!

I think Bernard is absolutely correct. To view our lives as God views them is, indeed, the highest level of spiritual development. Jesus told us, “You are the light of the world”—and it’s worth noting the verb he uses there. He didn’t say, “You could be the light,” or “If you work at it hard enough, you might be the light.” He said we already are the light of the world. Only, if you can’t see that in yourself, then chances are you’ll probably be blind to it most everywhere else, too.