Before Now......

Before: God is synonymous with religion. 

Now: God is synonymous with love.

Before: Christianity is a belief system. 

Now: Christianity is a school of love carried out in apprenticeship to Christ.

Before: God hates sin because it disgusts him.
Now: God’s motive for hating sin is love. Sin causes hurt and suffering for me and others.

Before: I primarily experience God through religious rituals and acts of obedience.
Now: When I am experiencing love, I am experiencing God.

Before: Christian living is trying harder to be more and do more.
Now: Christian living is an overflow of God’s love in me.

Before: My source of love is outside myself and I’m dependent on others to supply it.
Now: My source of love is within me, and while I enjoy the love of others, I’m not dependent on it and can freely love others without the expectation of receiving love in return.

Before: I am created in God’s image, which means I have the capacity to make rational choices and exercise my free will.
Now: I am created in the image of perfect love, which means love is the core of my identity and I can choose love.

Before: The main thing is getting people to adopt my beliefs about God.
Now: Loving people creates desire within them to know God.

Before: Somewhere out there is God’s purpose for my life, and I must find it. 

Now: At every moment, God’s purpose for me is to be love.

Before: Being “in love” is some temporary euphoric guy-meets-girl experience. 

Now: Being “in love” is walking in the conscious awareness of and being dependent on God’s love in me and as me.

Before: Tough love is withholding love from others as a means of disapproval or attempt to bring change.
Now: Tough love is loving others without condition, regardless of the result.

Before: The most powerful force on earth is hate.
Now: The most powerful force on earth is love"

(Jim Palmer. Wide Open Spaces)