Lord, I know who you are; You can answer my prayers – fix, comfort, rescue and heal without explanation, without hesitation and without reservation.
I know who you are, Lord. You are the Source. The Source of all that is good. You are the Source of mercy and forgiveness. You are the Source of goodness, kindness and faithfulness. You are the Source of patience, gentleness and PEACE.
Oh my goodness, peace…
Even thinking and writing the word makes me exhale and relax a bit. It occurs to me that this peace you give; this letting go, this release, this softening of our minds and hearts and even our bodies and our very countenance…well, it is all a byproduct of LOVE. And That is what you are, ultimately. The Source of Love.
All Love Is From Above
All these benefits, all these gifts are an outcropping of God’s love. Of being loved and being able to love. Pretty much everything else is meaningless. As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians, in effect; ‘If I do all these good things, but have not love, then I am just a clanging cymbal.’ Nothing good we do matters very much if we are doing it for fame, recognition, or pride. All the good we do must come, not from our own desires or duties or ambitions, but from love.
And all love is from God. So when I see a need that I can fulfill, I see a person in want or in trouble, I need to look at them with the eyes of Jesus. And with my eyes seeing Jesus in them. Jesus is the ‘visible representation of the invisible God’ (Colossians 1:15) and God the Father is love. So when Jesus said ‘you fed me when I was hungry and clothed me when I was naked’ (Matthew 25:36-40) – he was telling us to recognize the divinity in each person we meet. And that all are sons and daughters of God. And so we are all made by His love and in His image.
A little piece of God’s love exists in every single one of us. So no matter how awful or irritating or unreasonable or detestable or unsavory someone is to us – God loves them. Completely and unconditionally. And though we don’t like to think about it, this includes Hitler, Stalin, Putin, serial killers, drunk drivers, cheater, liars, drug dealers, obnoxious people, mean people, jerks and all kinds of sinners – including you and me.
Who Does God Love the Most?
Incidentally, I tend to do what I think a lot of us do. I have this comparative scale I use to separate myself and my faults and failures from the ‘really bad’ sinners – “well at least I don’t _________” ( fill in the blank). Like, because I haven’t committed one of the top ten sins, I’m somehow higher on God’s list than someone who has.
But God does not rank us. He doesn’t love me more because I’m not a murderer. Me and the guy on death row? We’re both His kids. Do you love one child more than another because they behave better? Well, neither does God. His umbrella of love covers every single one of his creations. Of course he wants more for us when we sin or are not living up to our potential. But love us any less? He can’t, really. He IS love.
God is love.
God not loving us is just not possible. It would be like the sun not shining – it just can’t. Oh, sure, clouds can get in the way of the sun’s rays reaching the earth. Fog and smog and rain can obscure the light that the sun is giving off. But the amount of light doesn’t change.
Likewise, things we do can get in the way of our sensing God’s love and his presence in our lives. Sin can distract us and obscure the rays of God’s love from being perceived by us. But like the sun’s light, God’s love for us never changes and strangely can’t increase either. You can’t do so much good that God will love you more than he does right now. Because his love for you is maxxed out. It’s always at 100%.
Can’t Buy Me Love
When I first heard this I was kind of shocked. I used to think that when I practiced patience or checked my anger, or when I went to church regularly or read my Bible, I satisfied God’s requirements of me and he was happy with me. Then I was relieved that I had checked off these items on my “spiritual to-do list”. I think I still feel that way at times. The idea that God loves us no matter what is a hard concept in this world of performance-driven accolades and popularity. And self satisfaction based on what you have done and how well you are perceived by others.
It’s hard to accept and realize there is someone who loves you no matter what; failure, distance, lack of interest, lack of belief…these things do not stop God from loving you. Here’s an interesting thought: you don’t have to believe in God for Him to love you. God loves atheists whether they like it or not! Whether you believe in God or not has no bearing on how he feels about you. He loves you. He just does.
It’s like hiding in a cave and thinking the sun doesn’t exist because you can’t see it. It’s like thinking the earth is flat. Because you don’t feel like God exists or you don’t believe he loves you -that doesn’t make it true… and it doesn’t make one bit of difference in how much you are loved by God.
For more on this topic http://www.christiannotchristian.com/the-ultimate-valentine-whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/ http://www.christiannotchristian.com/love-is-patient-love-is-kind/ http://www.christiannotchristian.com/out-of-the-shallows-love-one-another/
