God is Love

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15:12-16 ESV).

You may have heard the old saying “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It conveys the idea that we tend to take things for granted, having little value for what we believe we can have at any time. Many have learned the folly of the danger of familiarity once the object of it is lost. God’s love is like that. If we were to ever lose it, we’d be in such a terrible condition. To have known life and then lose it would be the worst of conditions. Thankfully that is not a possibility. It is not possible because the character of God is love. He simply is love. It is the constant we may rest in as we navigate this world of change and instability. One of the most familiar phrases is found in the most beloved of Scripture: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We see it so often on placards at sporting events, on tee-shirts, and hear it from evangelists and pastors that it becomes the religious version of Charlie Brown’s teacher (“Wahn, wahn, wahn, wahn, wahn”). The danger for us is that whenever we hear the declaration that God loves us, we tend to discount it to the point of denying its truth. I cannot deny the temptation to take God’s love for granted. In fact, I sometimes doubt it. Life has a way of happening to the extreme. As I find myself plodding along in circumstances that are so difficult that I can barely put one foot in front of the other with no prospect of relief I sometimes wonder “Does God really love me?” Is this God’s definition of love? The answer is no. This is not the definition of God’s love for me. Jesus laid his life down for me; he died in my place. That is the real definition of God’s love. God loves you and He loves me, not just for today, but for eternity. It’s just so familiar that I don’t value it the way I would if He were suddenly capable of withdrawing His love, and decided to because I’m such a sinner. Whether times are good or bad; whether life is easy or hard; whether we’re experiencing success or failure, health or sickness; whether we remember or forget, God’s whole character is love! That’s GREAT news!