1 John 3:18
“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth.”
One of my favorite parts about life on the Race are the random conversations that barely last a few moments but carry the weight of the world in their topic. These usually happen at the kitchen table (mostly because this is my “spot”). Today’s included Faith, clichés and the love of God.
It all started because I was making a lesson plan to take to the street kid ministry later that afternoon. What started as causal observations became serious contemplations about the Fall, the wording of Scripture, and the reasons humanity so desperately needs a Savior became a challenge as we went ‘back to the basics,’ relearning things I’ve known since I was a child, but understanding them with the mind, with the experiences, with the reasoning ability of an adult, and being reminded that all truth is God’s truth, and what we teach the kids in the afternoons matters to us, too.
The cliché under scrutiny was, “God loves you.” I mean, really, talk about a loaded statement. As Faith and I discussed the pros and cons of preaching a God- is- love based message, I once again came to conclusions- some of them I had drawn years ago, but truth is truth, and reminders are important (“it is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, it is a safeguard for you” Phil 3:1).
Yes, God is love, but to understand what that means, we have to know what love is and what it isn’t. Love isn’t warm tinglies up and down your spine; it’s remembering the good in people who can only see their own bad. Love isn’t hearts and rainbows; it’s choosing to trust someone who has just let you down (again). Love is so much more than the soft, fluffy emotion we caricature and slap on God- the kind of description that makes Him seem like a sweet old grandpa, but sits and watches from his armchair when the storms of life knock you down.
Yes, God is love, but He’s so much more than love, too. He’s also justice and mercy and grace, power and glory and LORD. He is total perfection and, in our sin, we rejected Him. Justice demands retribution, love pleads for mercy, power provides a way. In His love, the Father sent His only Son for our salvation and then His Holy Spirit for our guidance. He didn’t sit back and let sin win because He’s all love and nothing else, but because His love is coupled with His other attributes, He was able to reconcile us to Himself.
Yes, God is love, and we are created in His image. We are created in love to love. That love starts with us loving God and ends with us loving others, on the way loving ourselves because that’s the only way to effectively pour out this kind of love. It isn’t some superficial, emotions- driven feeling, either- it’s the raw deal, the kind of love that hurts, that sacrifices, that lays down its life for another (“this is how we know what love is: Christ laid down His life for us” I John 3:16). Christ did this for us, now we are called to do it for those around us, those who need the Gospel, those we call our friends and neighbors and teammates and even frenemies.
Yes, God is love, but until we’ve experienced what true love is (and what it isn’t), until we’ve been knocked off our feet by pain and suffering and sustained through it all, until we’ve learned to put our own interests aside and love the fierce kind of way God loves us, then saying, “God is love” is a total cliché. It’s attractive, it’s PC* it’s even the truth… but it lacks that bittersweet depth that stands up under pressure, that holds its ground under attack, that comforts and heals and sustains.
Love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Love protects her brothers and sisters, guarding her words and actions because she cares more about those around her more than running her mouth. Love trusts in those around her even when they don’t deserve it– even when they mess it up again and again and again. Love sees the potential for good and hopes that it will come to fruition- it’s not a passive hope that wrings her hands and worries, but an active, aggressive hope that fights for those around her. Love perseveres in the fight, taking the hits that will inevitably come but pressing on despite them all.
This month, what I learned the most was how to love. It’s not always pretty (actually, it’s usually messy), but it’s so worth it.
Is that a little cliché? Sure.
But I’ll take it any day.
*that’s politically correct for those of you who haven’t been surrounded by our abbrev team
