The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 4:7-12,
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
This is the message we have from Jesus Christ himself and permeates all of Scripture as we read how to live our lives in a manner pleasing to God: we are to love one another. As the apostle Paul tells us to love one another in a famous passage that is often read at weddings I am struck that Paul’s reflection of the love we should have for one another says much about the love God has for us. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 we read, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
I recognize that Paul’s passage here was written for us mortals. While some of what we read in his passage here would not apply to our God who transcends human qualities in his divine magnificence, it is still instructive as we think of the wonderful love our God has for us.
Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. Certainly we see this in the way our God has “overlooked” - that is, has been patient - of our sins in his forbearance toward us. After all, God himself tells us he is a God who delights in kindness but also in justice and righteousness. In Romans 3:25b we read, “He did this [presenting Jesus Christ as a sacrifice of atonement for us] to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished…” Why does a God of justice not exact his punishment on us the moment we sin? Because of his love for us. In the previous chapter of Romans, 2:4, we read, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?” This forbearance of God provides us opportunity for repentance.
From my perspective, I see our God as a transcendent, noble and magnanimous God to whom envy, boasting, pride, rudeness and self-centeredness could play no part in anything he may communicate to us. But in following Paul’s reflection on the qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13 we see God’s love for us clearly communicated in his absence of anything that could be remotely described as easily angered. In his self-disclosure to Moses the Lord says, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Exodus 34:6b-7a. And, of course, his greatest expression of love toward us is his sending his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The remainder of what Paul has to say about love says so much about our loving God. The love of our God is such a wonderful thing! Having said all this I am still reminded that love is but one facet of the jewel that represents God’s many-splendored personality. I am also aware that even though he is a God of love, woe to the man who would attempt to exploit that love to his own advantage. Our God is not a God to be trifled with as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31.
Just a few rambling thoughts about our wonderful God of love this morning…
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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