God Is Love

“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten 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” (1 John 4:8-10).



I remember when I was asked by a coworker “so, who or what is God?” The job I had at the time was very physically intense. I was in the middle of unloading boxes out of a 55 foot long trailer when he decided to walk up to me and ask me this. I was thinking about the boxes, how many of them there were, and how fast I could get them unloaded.  My brain was like an assembly line:  pick up box, place long-ways on the conveyer belt, put bigger boxes on a different conveyer belt and then repeat for 3 hours. In the middle of that I was asked one of the most profound questions ever uttered. He knew I was a Christian and I knew it was a leading question. I stood and looked at him with a dumbfounded look on my face like I was trying to solve an impossible math problem. A million things rushed into my brain but nothing came out of my mouth. It was like a crowd of people trying to evacuate a building through a single doorway all at once. Finally, I stammered “God is…love.” He helped me pick up a few of the boxes that I was unloading and didn’t say anything else and he left a few moments later. I knew that I told him was true but I also knew that I what I said was open to interpretation.  Take words out of the context in which they were spoken and they can take on a different meaning. Politicians do it all the time to one another.
  

I believe what 1 John tells us, that “God is love.” To me, that means God defines what love is and without God there is no love. I believe that God desires the best for His creation and all that He has designed is best understood in the context of knowing His love for us. The Bible says that all things were created through Jesus, for Jesus, that all things consist in Him and all things are being reconciled through Him. For creation to operate according to God’s highest and best it must consist in Christ.



Sin is what separates us from God. I don’t mean this in the sense of a separation of physical distance but one of association. I can be in the same room with someone and not associate with them. In fact, I can be in the same room with a good friend and if there is unresolved conflict between me and that person I might say that I “feel distant.” In that moment, because of our unresolved conflict me and that friend will not feel closely associated with one another. There is animosity that makes us opposed to one another. We often don’t ask ourselves why animosity even exists. One could say that one party is right and one is wrong but this isn’t always the case with people– there is something in us that works against being closely associated even with people that we want to be. I haven’t met anyone that wants to get divorced on the day of their wedding. We have all the intentions of loving someone, we long to be loved by them but there will come a day when the husband and wife will realize they don’t define love the exact same way and will find themselves “at odds” with one another. What the couple does from there to grow in love is another subject in itself. The point is that we’re relational beings but the person who is truly honest with him or herself will admit that there are tendencies in them that revolt against being rightly related to people.



The worst problem we can have is one that we don’t know that we have. If you don’t know that you have cancer, than a cure for cancer won’t mean much to you. You may find some joy in knowing that other people who have cancer have a cure but it won’t be something you are personally grateful for. I find this is the attitude some have in regard to sin and the need to be forgiven by God. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). I can understand people saying that they don’t buy that (there was a time when I didn’t). That’s a choice and we all have the choice to believe what we want, it doesn’t mean some of the things we choose not to believe aren’t true it just means we choose not to believe them. What John is saying here is that if we don’t acknowledge the problem of sin than we can’t understand and appropriate the cure through trusting in Jesus.



Here is a part of the above verse out of 1 John in a different translation: “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (4:10, HCSB). The word propitiation refers to an act by which appease someone that we have wronged. The perfect expression of love exists in the fact that God provided His Son to appease what our sin demanded – judgment. We are naturally at odds with God but the difference between our dispute with Him and a dispute between another person is that one party is right and the other is wrong. We’re wrong and He is right. As people we all have notions of being owed something to right a wrong. We might feel someone “owes us an apology” for something they did wrong. We want people to answer to our sense of fairness and justice. If God were only just our rebellion against Him would necessitate perfect punishment. God doesn’t appeal to some standard of justice outside of Himself – He IS the essence of justness. He defines justice and so if He is love than His love must be expressed justly.



When we become aware of our moral bankruptcy before God we can shrink away and point an accusatory finger at circumstances, people or even God Himself. In Luke 23, we see two thieves being crucified with Jesus: one hurled accusations at Him with his dying breath and the other recognized his own guilt and appealed to Jesus’s mercy. We can also ignore the issue altogether and immerse ourselves in ideas and beliefs that make it convenient to forget that silly conscience of ours. After all, all we need is love and if I want to define love apart from God than love will essentially rotate around me. But I believe love that the Bible expresses is more beautiful than anything I could ever conceive. I first experienced it and comprehended it when I realized that I wanted to rule my own life and that I was living in opposition to God. I wanted to shrink away but I also wanted to draw near at the same time. I found my biggest problem in the Bible and the solution to my problem in the same place. In the presence of God, I felt my sinfulness but I also found the answer, which is mercy. In that one mysterious act on the cross, the justice of God was satisfied in Christ’s sacrifice so that I could receive mercy freely – not based on what I could offer Him. My sin was not condoned at the cross it was atoned for and when I saw sin for what it is I was relieved to know that it was done away with. God loved me when I was his enemy – that is perfect love. I came to know the love that only God has for me, not just intellectual assent but an intimate knowing that is different from anything else I have ever known or experienced. I came to know that God truly is love.