If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Cor 13)
These words reveal something about the God of love, namely: It is not His infinite knowledge or intellect, referred to as His omniscience, that is His most essential characteristic. Neither is it His limitless power, known as His omnipotence, that makes Him who He is. Love is at the core of who God is!
Love desires to give … love is not focused on itself, but desires the benefit of others. Love is not needy, lack-conscious or aware of what it does not have. Love is an expression of abundance; the overflow of joy and satisfaction. Love is not obsessed with its own importance … it does not need the recognition of others. There is no inferiority in love … it is not dependent on affirmation, because love’s attention is not on itself but on its target. All God is for man and all He does for man, is out of His own free grace. He does not owe us anything, neither do we have any claim upon this free grace, yet in utter freedom, without any obligation He desires to give it, because that is who He is. His love, His free grace is not some quality or property of His character that can be placed alongside other properties. This is essentially who He is. All other qualities proceeds from this central reality: God is love.
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I keep thinking lately of the multiplying effects of what we do – hate breeding hate, anger breeding anger, love breeding love, like the yeast in the bread. And it’s perturbing to see how the negative things breed more negativity; and the pull of it is so strong that some people can easily remain in it all their lives, never realising that the breeding of love is even greater. It amazes me what blossoms out of that space when God is allowed to just weave himself in and out of someone’s life. A hundredfold, a thousandfold
Thanks for this post. It was a real nice way to start my Sunday morning
Hi Sue
I love the Weymouth Translation of Rom 5:
God?s free gift immeasurably outperforms the transgression in consequence. For if through the transgression of the one individual the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God?s grace, and the gift wrapped up in His grace, which found expression in another individual, Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind. It follows then that just as the result of a single transgression is a condemnation, which extends to the whole human race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is a life-giving acquittal which extends to the whole human race.? Rom.5:15,18. Weymouth Translation.
That’s a beautiful translation. Lots of extending to the whole human race references there. My inner hope-filled Christian universalist very much likes that one