MARK JOHNSON
God is love

What are you going to do about it?

David Mains, a Christian minister, was sitting in a dental chair when his orthodontist asked David if he would go with him to see a movie. “I’ve seen this film five times already,” said the orthodontist, “and each time I break down and weep at the same part of the story. I’m hoping you can help me understand why that scene in the movie makes me cry.”

“Sure,” David said. “What movie is it?”

His orthodontist replied, “Terminator 2, with Arnold Schwarzenegger!”

When David sat with his friend through the movie, the orthodontist broke down as before. It happened in the scene where Schwarzenegger gave his life to save the life of a child.

Over coffee after the film, the two men talked. The orthodontist hinted at an inner longing for a father’s love. David identified the symbol of sacrificial love, so poignantly displayed in the movie, as a picture of God’s love. “I believe that’s what you are looking for,” David said.

The orthodontist agreed. Together they bowed in prayer, and the middle-aged orthodontist prayed to receive the forgiveness and love of his Heavenly Father.

Greg Asimakoupoulos, writer and speaker

I’m constantly amazed at the power of our need to be loved and to love. That need sometimes drives us to extremes – that’s how powerful it is. But I’m just as amazed at how completely God meets that need. In fact, we were created to be loved by Him. Throughout the Bible, the love of God is highlighted. Here are just two examples:

“The Lord answered, ‘Could a mother forget a child who nurses at her breast? Could she fail to love an infant who came from her own body? Even if a mother could forget, I will never forget you. . . . You are always in My thoughts!’ ” (Isaiah 49:15-16) “Nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 8:38-39)

Although elsewhere we read that “God is spirit” and that “God is light”, we don’t find those phrases repeated like we do the phrases about God’s love. Time after time, God’s love for us is restated and amplified and explained. The plainest description is this: “God is love.” (1 John 4:16)

Jesus shows God’s love

I’ve had a number of people tell me that they can accept Jesus Christ, but they have a real problem accepting God. They see Jesus as loving, gentle and approachable. They see God as remote, angry, uncaring, powerful and unmoved. It is always my delight to surprise them with these words from Jesus Himself:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without Me, no one can go to the Father. If you had known Me, you would have known the Father . . . If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:6, 9)

Jesus perfectly displayed what God is like. Is Jesus approachable? Then so is God the Father. Is Jesus pure and righteous? Then so is God the Father. Is Jesus loving? Then so is God the Father.

Jesus brings God’s love

The Bible also says:

“God showed how much He loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.” (Romans 5:8) “God loved the people of this world so much that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him will have eternal life and never really die.” (John 3:16)

That’s how much love God has for us. Because God is holy and just, He can’t simply overlook our “sin”, our rejection of Him, and all the other bad things we have done. But because His love for us is so deep, He can’t simply write us off, either. And so, both God’s love and His justice are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. His love for us is demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus laid down His life for people when they were rebelling and rejecting God. He took upon Himself the consequences of our sin, and died instead of us. That’s how much love God has for us.

This love isn’t the fuzzy, sentimental love of romances. (Good thing, too! That kind of love is haphazard and arbitrary.) The love of God for us is an absolute determination to pour His goodness on us.

Responding to God’s love

God desires to pour His love on us. However, He doesn’t give it to us against our will. We are called to respond to His love by receiving it. More specifically, you and I are called to respond to the Father’s love by receiving Jesus, surrendering to Him, and giving Him our lives to live in.

It would be a mistake to think that God’s love for us is the last word. It is the starting point and the foundation for loving God and others in return. The Bible says, “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19-21) Jesus said that the greatest commandments in the Bible are “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and “Love others as much as you love yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)

We get over the hurdle of believing that God could actually love us, only to face the hurdle of believing that God could actually be loved. Is it possible to wholeheartedly love God? The answer is Yes!

We learn to love God by following Jesus. In Jesus, we find out just how magnificent, brilliant, utterly good, wonderful, beautiful, powerful, delightful and awesome God the Father is. Most of us are hindered in loving God because we have false images of Him. We have been affected by religious rule-keeping, by our own painful experiences with authority figures and by ignorance. We’re unaware of how much those false images hurt both us and God. As we follow Jesus, getting to know Him better, those false images are broken down and replaced with the truth.

Here’s the challenge: Receive God’s love to the fullest that you’re able. Then, pursue loving God and others in return. Find some others with the same hunger for God and join them in the pursuit of God. Most Christian churches have a significant group of people in them that are doing just that. Seek them out. It’ll change your life.