We love
because he first loved us 1st John 4:19
In the 1956 movie version of Friendly Persuasion, Little Jess Birdwell does not know exactly what to say during a Sunday morning meeting of the Friends, and during a moment of contemplation blurts out “GOD IS LOVE!” Little Jess is immediately stared down by a speechless elder Purdy, as the lad hides his face in shame. Jess’s outburst held a core truth. God surely is love (1st John 4:8). But what does that really mean? Is it just some kind of religious feel-good slogan or a free ride to heaven? If the sovereignty of God is perhaps His most abused attribute, then His attribute of love seems the most misquoted and misapplied.
While the Greek has at least 8 definitions of the noun love, Our English has one. The English dictionary definition is ‘an intense feeling of deep affection.' We can say we love our mates, we love our children, we love our pets, and we can even say we love that can of toffee peanuts by the chair. In the modern vernacular they can both be found factually affectionate and fully unfortunate. Love for many in both the secular and religious realms has become a license to do whatever people wish even if it goes against God’s character.
Satan’s mode of operating has been the
same in his millenniums-long war against God, to reverse and twist God’s
perfect design. If God says men and women should not have sexual love for the
same sex, or that men and women be sexually abstinent outside the marriage commitment,
Satan says, “God is lying to keep you from finding true fulfilment” (Gen.
3:4-5). After all what is wrong with love? God is love. It says it in the
Bible! If God is love, how can it be wrong?” It eventually comes down to
creating a god of love who is in essence, a dementia-addled grandfather who smiles
and winks at what we do in the name of love because he is love, even
when He says certain things are an abomination to His character.
Paul wrote
to Timothy that a time would come when people would no longer want to adhere to
sound doctrine. Their spiritual ears will itch to suit their own desires and
turn away from listening to the truth, turning to myths (2nd Timothy
4:3-4), the greatest being that God overlooks what His character demands!
We are living in that age right now, a time when people willingly have turned from the God of the Bible to a love-myth that is perverse. They have made love into a god of the imagination. If it is possible to love anything, then it is also possible to love outside the parameters of God’s character. To be clear, not everything we hold in affection is sin. For those who seriously want to grow in their walk in Christ, knowing the character of God is paramount to knowing love’s true purpose. I do my best not to scratch any ears that itch for license or reason to sin.
God's love and commandments
always bring ultimate satisfaction when we trust His healthy design for us. From
before the beginning of time God’s love was never specifically all feel-good or existed to
tickle ears, it was sacrificial and always within the boundaries and character
of the Triune-God (Gen 1:26, Titus1:2).
Let us study God's character to be approved by Him. Paul tells us to make the effort to be
prompt and earnest to present ourselves worthy unto God, and after being examined
by Him and found without shame, to rightly cut the word of God straight and
correctly (to distinguish) in its meaning (2nd Tim. 2:15). It is good
to love and at its best when done within the attribute of God’s true character.
We love because He first loved us with
a pre-Creation love that was fully demonstrated at the cross. Jesus said there
is no greater love than this (John 15:13). Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death
and witnessed resurrection from the dead He invites us to rest in Him and learn
from Him (Matt 11:29). When we do, we will always find a fulfillment that is
godly and stays within the boundaries of His perfection. Instead of blurting
out the world’s diatribe of love, when we say God is love it
will be with the fullest understanding. It will be without shame.
Maranatha,
Ken
