 |
| One manifestation of God's love is the beauty of creation. |
We often
hear people saying, “God is love.” When you hear that, what comes to mind? Do
you envision a celestial Teddy bear that longs to be hugged – and to hug back?
Or a divine, grandfatherly figure with beard flowing white, peering down from a
remote post in heaven, observing the foibles and failings of His creation, smiling
and shaking His head as He thinks, “Those silly people – they do the darnedest
things”?
It’s true
that God is love. The Scriptures say so. I like the translation of 1 John 4:16
that reads, “We
have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in
love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
The
question is, what does “God is love” mean? Is it like the nice grandma who
loves everyone – family, friend and stranger – with nary a negative or critical
word toward anyone? Is it a love that says anything goes, blind to wrongdoing
and offering full acceptance – even approval – of any and all behaviors?
If we study
the Scriptures, we realize neither is true. The Greek language, in which most
of the New Testament was originally written, is much more exacting about “love.”
In English, we “love” dogs and goldfish, jobs, cars, spouses and partners, children,
favorite music, pizza, sports teams – and sometimes, God – using the same word.
Obviously, our meaning isn’t the same for each.
The Greek,
however, distinguishes forms of love – friendship love, sexual love, selfless love,
and others. When we read “God is love,” it conveys benevolence but also expresses
His sacrificial love that cost Him more than we can comprehend.
Because in
Romans 5:8 we’re told, “But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s not a warm, fuzzy
kind of love. Certainly not a casual, cuddly type of affection toward us. As
Jesus said in the days leading up to His crucifixion, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay
down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:13). How many of us has
experienced love like that on the human level?
At the same time, while contemplating the truth that God is
love, we must do so within the context of understanding He also is holy, and
righteous, and just. The notion that the Lord’s love requires Him to condone
anything we do, without question or judgment, reflects a gross misunderstanding
of a perfect, pure, holy God who cannot tolerate sin in any form. We see that
throughout the Scriptures.
Someone has said, “God loves us as we are – but loves us too
much to leave us that way.” That’s why Jesus put great emphasis on being “born
again” in the third chapter of John, and the apostle Paul writes about becoming
a “new creation in Christ” (2
Corinthians 5:17) and being “crucified
with Christ (so that) Christ lives in me.”
I’ve learned something about this by being a parent. My love
for each of my children – as well as my grandchildren – is unconditional and unwavering,
but that doesn’t mean I’ve supported or approved of everything they did. Even
being aware of my own imperfections, in my love for them I still desire that
they not only to know right from wrong, but also to do, think and be right –
and not wrong.
God’s love
pours out of His perfection. We love (there’s the word again) to read passages
like, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world
does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1). This asserts that God’s
love does not mean He must consider every human His “child.” Only those who
truly know Him.
As 1 John
1:5-9 explains, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to
you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and
yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and
will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Our God, in
His love, wants us to walk in light – and not darkness. And to acknowledge our
sins, confess them, and seek His forgiveness, restoring us to proper fellowship
with Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment