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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.
 

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