I Got You Covered

             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 them. (I John 4:16)

 

            “God is love.” How can that not be the focus of any discussion of this verse, and yet, what more can be said about that short statement? Instead, it’s the sentence before it that catches my eye, especially after yesterday. We know? We rely on the love God has for us?

            I’m reminded of a video in which someone explained that marriage isn’t a 50/50 thing. He(?) said that there are days when one of the people in the relationship will come home and say, “You know what, I’m at ‘30’ today. It’s been a rough day.”

            And the other person will say, “That’s OK. I’m at an 80. I’ve got you covered.”

             There will be other days when both will be at a 30, and then they need to figure out a plan for dealing with things.

            What this speaker was describing, at least in part, was grace. God is always at a 100 – or 1000, or 1,000,000. We’re never at 100. Even on our best day, we’re probably down around 9, but we like to think well of ourselves, so we claim 90, or at least 50. And God steps in and says, “I’ve got you covered,” even when we didn’t realize we needed to be covered.

            Now, imagine what things would be like if every time one of the people gets home, they are required to be at 100, not because the other person is disabled or ill, but because the other person demands it. Chances are good that the partner would dread going home, and that whatever love the partner felt at one point would have died.

            When I read what John says about our knowing and relying on the love God has for us, the idea that comes to mind is the knowledge that we can come “home” from a rough day, and God will say, “I’ve got you covered.” That doesn’t give us permission to be abusive or ugly, but we know we’re safe.