It’s Love Week!
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I’ve been pondering love—what is it really and how does the world define it differently from God? So, in answer to the lead question starting the first entry of this week-long subject of mine, let me show you the banner hanging from our family room mantle that Nick and I just made.
Three words straight from the hand of John, the closest disciple of Jesus: God is love. (1 John 4:8) It’s so easy to skip over three short words. And I have—many times. I have read them fast and not stopped long enough to smell the sublime fragrance of each word. Not today. It’s the dead of winter and it is windy cold and my soul is longing for something perfectly sweet. Sweeter than chocolate are these three nuggets—God is love. And the first . . .
God.
He is. He exists and is not some nebulous force floating around in the universe. No, the God of old testament and new is intensely personal and passionately, perfectly loves us—all of us—even those who do not believe in Him or love Him. For by Him we were created and breathe and have our being. (Revelation 4:11) Apart from Him there is nothing—no life, no love, no good thing, no other savior. (Psalm 16:2; Isaiah 43:10-11)
So as I ponder the meaning of true love, I have to start with God because there is no other starting point. And His holy word does not say just that He loves. It says that He IS love. Love is His essence. If I want to know and experience true love, I have to know and experience the One who IS love. And there is only one true love wrapped together in three—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God alone is love—true love—perfect love. I don’t just believe this apart from experience. I know this from life. And tomorrow, I will post ponderings about and experiences with imperfect human love, still beautiful with the watermarks of God . . . who IS . . . love. Truly.
