Skip to main content

God Is Love

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  (I John 4:14-16)
 
          I’m beginning to feel as if I am going through this book at light speed. I may have to go back through it immediately to pick up on all the stuff I’ve missed. Today’s passage has me slamming on the brakes. I don’t know how we could spend a year on the last half of this quote, and I realize most people would probably walk away after day 2, but it’s a big enough topic that – my ignorance of how aside – probably deserves at least a year of discussion.
          When I discuss love, or God’s love, I tend to focus on the aspects of that love that are counter-cultural. Our society has such a lopsided, even upside-down idea of what love is. It’s very selfish. “If you loved me, you would ________.” Fill in the blank with some demand that probably ranges from “not a good idea” to illegal. “If God loved me, He would … give me everything I want, do everything I tell Him…” In other words, if God loved me, He’d make me His god. (And of course, we say, “Oh, no, that’s not what I’m saying, I just mean…” and we repeat our stipulations for our godhood.)
          In Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, God’s characteristics are often defined using a two-part definition. The first part defines the term, and the second “guards against misunderstanding the attribute by stating a balancing or opposite aspect that relates to the attribute.” (p 160.) This is what I am trying to do – not to say that the softer side of love isn’t love, but that it is not the full understanding of love.
          I don’t know if it will work, or how it will work, but for the next day or two, I want to explore some of the attributes of God and see how they apply (or don’t apply) to love, just to see what we can learn. Put down your packs and pull out your tents, we may be here for a while.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more