Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8032

8032 What is love?.... Changing selfish love into neighbourly love....

November 4, 1961: Book 84

And time and again you are reminded to live a life of love. For love is the strength that redeems you, love is the path which leads to Me, love is My fundamental element, and therefore anyone who lives in love is intimately connected with Me, because he inevitably draws Me, Who is love Himself, close to himself.... But what does it mean to live a life of love in accordance with My will?....

You should change selfish love, which is your nature at the beginning of your incarnation as a human being, into selfless neighbourly love, that is, you have to change the demanding, wanting-to-own love into selfless, giving, wanting-to-please love, which alone can be called 'divine love'. For My adversary knew how to change this divine love within you into the opposite, how to instil the desire for anti-divine things, he knew how to arouse longings in you humans which you sought to fulfil; he has lowered selfish love into your heart, and you have to try to change it again during the time of your earthly life into divine, selfless love.

And thus you should practice unselfish neighbourly love; you should think less about yourselves and take a personal interest in your fellow human beings' fate instead.... You should make people happy and emanate sincere love, for only this love is divine; it is the love which connects us again in time and eternity. For this reason people's attention should repeatedly be drawn to their earthly task of shaping themselves into love; time and again they should be reminded of My commandments of love, and at the same time they should be informed of the effect a life of love has for the human being's soul, they should also be given the reason why I require love from people.... it should be explained to them that they had fallen into the abyss because they had rejected My love, because they had left My order, because they had placed themselves outside of My flow of love and thus also turned their nature into the opposite. People have to be instructed of the fact that strength of love also guarantees 'life', whereas without love the being is dead albeit it lives an illusive life as a human being.... They should know that they live on earth in order to acquire eternal life for themselves, and that eternal life also requires a degree of love which necessitates a conscious struggle against selfish love. The human being should know that the 'love' I want should only ever be understood as the selfless, giving and wanting-to-please love. And if he now aims to change his nature into love he will then also soon experience the effectiveness of divine love.... he will learn to understand everything, he will become enlightened, he will emerge from spiritual darkness, he will arrive at the 'understanding', he will be permeated by My spirit and be able to teach, for his inner realisation will give him the ability to transfer it to a fellow human being, although he, too, first must have reached this enlightened spiritual state due to his deeds of love in order to muster the understanding for it.... in order to recognise the conveyed knowledge as truth.

Love has to result in a clear spiritual state, otherwise the fulfilment of My commandment of love will only ever be feigned by words but the evidence will fail to materialise itself. Love comes first, love is the Divine, love is the fire which irrevocably will also radiate light.... Thus wisdom has to be recognisable where true love is practised, so that a person's reasoning is correct, so that an inner light is kindled within him and he then will also speak with wisdom, because the spirit in him expresses itself, because I Am able to speak through him Myself and My Words are truly light and life and provide evidence of most profound wisdom. And thus the effect of a life of love has to be identifiable, for 'whoever remains in love remains in Me and I in him....' and thus My spirit works wherever I can be, and this expresses itself such that you will truly no longer doubt My presence....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna