Periodic Ponderings on the Love of God
Edition 1: Volume 1
February 1, 2010
My stream of consciousness on the love of God begins. Jump into the water if you dare.
God is Love.
The love of God is at the forefront of God’s being. God doesn’t merely demonstrate love outward toward us, but the ground and substance of God’s being is Love. Love is more than an attribute of God. Love is the essence of God and all else that we know of God to be; that God is kind, forgiving, compassionate, faithful, just, patient, good, merciful, full of grace, long-suffering, powerful, and every other good, glorious, and life-affirming thing we could ever tag on God channels and flows through the love of God. How much God will forgive, how patient God will be, and how much mercy God will extend, is determined by one thing and that one thing is Divine Love.
I can never experience love in my life without there being a recipient of my love, be it a human or a thing to be loved, but the love of God as the essence of God isn’t dependent on an object to love. Should all living beings cease to be from bird to bug, from you to me, God would continue to love because God is Love.
But being Love wasn’t enough for God. Even the divine perfect love that flowed through the Godhead between Creator, Word, and Spirit wasn’t enough for the Source of All Love. Love always wants more; to feel more love; to express more love; to be more love. And so you and I were created so that God as Love could love more, and in like manner the Word of God was sent into the world to live among us; given not because we loved God but because God loved us.
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:8-12
Knowing that God is not only loving but that God is Love is more than semantics. It’s a big deal. No longer does God’s love depend on me being or doing anything. No longer is there any chance that I can win or lose God’s love. In fact, the truth be told, while God knows me and sees me and loves me, God’s love for me has little to nothing to do with me but instead it has everything to do with who God is, and in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, God is Love.
Posted in Periodic Reflections on the Love of God
Sweet Hope Cookies
February 1st, 2010 at 8:38 pm
God’s love for me has little to nothing to do with me but instead it has everything to do with who God is.
Amen and Amen!
February 1st, 2010 at 8:53 pm
“We‘re merely tasting a drop of God’s pure love in this life, when eternal oceans await us.”
After many years of striving, questioning, struggling…. I’m learning to rest in God’s opinion of me–You are Loved! While writing in my journal this thought about ‘eternal oceans of love’ came to me a few days ago. Now it stands out to me and when I simply take time just soaking in it, letting it completely envelop me, I catch a glimpse of God’s love and I’m undone. Just a glimpse–encountering it, tasting it, feeling it, realizing it, seeing it, knowing it a little bit more today than I did yesterday is changing me, healing me, comforting and strengthening me, anchoring me in Him and His pure Love!
I confess the older I get the more I feeling like such a babe in knowing God, His love for me, for others. Oh-h to know Him! Some days I’m there, occasionally I’m not, but it’s what I’m running after with every fibre of my being. I am Jesus’ beloved and He is mine. His acceptance, love and delight in me — is complete, real and nothing will ever change that. (Not even my own doubt!)
Oh-h, to grasp the breadth, and length, height and depth of God’s love. ~Ephesians 3: 18 God challenges us to—”Reach out and experiences the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights. Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” –The MessageTranslation of the Bible
I’m throwing off any & all teaching, understanding, belief that God is stingy, withholding, and replacing it with Jesus’ open invitation to one and all to eat & drink our fill of Him, again and again, His love, and goodness, all that He IS! I’m taking my energy in body, mind and spirit to pursue such love–to see His face, to know His touch, to hear His words of love & encouragement, and know I’m loved in the core of my being. I’m feasting at His table of love, and inviting others to join the divine feast of God where ALL are welcome.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 am
Wow…