God is Love


Someone once asked me "What is God?"

I replied "God is Love."

She shot back "God is an emotion?"

No, Love is much more than emotion. Love is a fundamental Principle of life the universe and everything. Emotion is just one way that Love is manifested. Love is also manifested as life, beauty, creativity, order, unselfish action, obedience to laws, and countless other forms.

The Love I'm talking about is absolutely pure, unconditional, and absolute.

That is God.

The 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians describes the attributes of Love:
"Love is patient and kind;
love is not jealous
or boastful;
it is not arrogant
or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends."

Yet how often do we attribute these characteristic to God? I think one of the hardest things for people to accept is God's unconditional love. The conventional wisdom is that God does keep score of wrongs, punishes people for their alleged sins and only rewards the worthy. But that's not what Jesus said. In the Sermon on the Mount he said "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." That is pure love.

I find that when reading the Bible, if I substitute the word Love for God it usually clarifies the meaning of a passage. On those rare occasions where Love does not fit or make sense (the wrath of love?), it is usually a limited or anthropomorphic (man-like) concept of God that is being discussed.

For example:
"Love created man in his own image, in the image of Love he created him; male and female he created them." Gen. 1:27

"You shall have no other love before me." (Or alternately: "You shall have no other gods before love"). Ex. 20:3

"The spirit of Love has made me, and the breath of Love gives me life." Job 33:4

"Whatever Love does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it." Eccl. 3:14

"The kingdom of Love is within you." Luke 17:21

"And Love shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:4

In later entries we'll get into how fear prevents us from seeing God's love in the world.

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