God is love

In our culture today, it can be a sticky thing to talk about "God." God, it seems, has been very busy offending people. So much so, that he has found himself replaced. God is now only working part time, getting political gigs mostly. Around Christmas time, Santa Claus rents out space on metro busses to remind our children that God isn’t real. Perhaps Santa is just trying a slick new marketing technique to take over some of Jesus’ Christmas slots. Kind of a Coke versus Pepsi situation…. Having been deemed a sexist, many have forced God to resign in shame, being replaced by Goddess. Yes, it sure is tough for God lately. As author Douglas Wilson has pointed out, even people who deny God’s existence still hate him.

Of course, there is another route being taken by some. God can still stick around and get work if he is willing to be flexible. As long as he doesn’t insist on always being referred to by specific names or being understood in specific ways, he can stay. It is sort of like you or I being allowed to stay at our jobs as long as we are okay with having one co-worker refer to us as Becky, another called us Bill, a third call us Steve, and a fourth simply, "that Presence in the room." Some people believe we like drinking coffee, others are offended at the idea. Some picture us as quite tall, while others don’t. To some, we are thin, to others a bit on the heavy side. And to a few, the very idea of being able to know our level of physical fitness seems presumptuous and arrogant. But they are all talking about us, and as long as they are willing to get along and we are willing to "be all things to all people," we’ve got the job. And above all, no one is allowed to be considered more correct than anyone else. After all, that’s just mean and narrow minded. If I must be Becky Bill Steve Presence CoffeeNocoffeeTallShortSkinnyFat, so be it. Who am I to insist that anyone relate to me on terms that I am comfortable with, anyway?

Such it seems to be with God lately. But there is one more possible slot for God: love. "God is love." That’s in the Bible. It is in 1 John 4:8, to be more exact. And this seems to be a good slot, a good solution to the dilemma. God is love. But how is this true? What does this mean? An easy route to take with the sentiment, "God is love," would be to make it an equation, "God=love." An equation, of course, is the same either way. "God=love" "love=God." So now we have found a spot for God, or rather a new definition of him. He is love. He is that good feeling you get when you give a person a flower or a gift. He is the chemistry between two young lovers. He is the kindness that people need to express that will one day bring world peace. There, that is a good definition of love, I mean "God," that requires no dogmas, doctrines, or disagreements, right? But even here, are we selling ourselves short? Are we robbing ourselves of really meeting God? Are we impoverishing ourselves with false riches? I think we are.

To get to know me, you must come to me (on some level at least) on my terms. I am not absolute, so of course this is not absolutely true in my case. You could manipulate or overwhelm me in some way and learn something of me without my consent. But to know me in the sense that most people understand the phrase requires my consent and participation. It requires my own decision to communicate myself. And whoever and however I turn out to be, that automatically limits your conjecture as to what I am like. How many times in our teen years have we "fallen in love" with some boy or girl only to be disappointed once we actually spent any time around them? How many of us have done this as adults? But thus it can be with God. To know him can be frustrating. To know him involves me having to let go of certain cherished notions of who he is and what he is supposed to be like. And above all, to know him depends on him choosing to communicate himself with me.

Fortunately, God is love. But this is no equation. It is intentionally poor grammar. To say, "God is loving," would be an understatement. To say, "God is the most loving being in the world/universe/whatever," still doesn’t come close. To say, "God created love so he is better at it than anyone else," also fails to say enough. So what did the writer of 1 John 4:8 choose to say? "God is love." But what kind of love is God? The very next two sentences tell us (1 John 4:9-10), "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that 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 propitiation for our sins." What is a propitiation? It is a payment or sacrifice that turns away wrath.

You see, God does love and he is love, but you and I get so selfish that his love manifests itself in a desire for justice. When we do wrong, his love becomes anger because of how we treat him, ourselves, and each other. And his justice demands our punishment. But it is right here that God’s love and justice intersect. Atonement has been made. Wrath has been turned aside. God the Father has poured out his justice upon God the Son. It happened the day that Jesus of Nazareth died upon that cross. Forgiveness now is offered to those who realize they need it. Why? Because God is love.