We are told by more than a few folks that “God is Love” … And this is no mere “New Age foof”, for the Bible itself comes right out and clearly says the same thing — Consider:

“Everyone who Loves is born of God and knows God, and whoever does not Love does not know God; for GOD IS LOVE.” ~ 1 John 4:7-8

And yet quote this verse to conservative Christians (actually an oxymoron, but I digress) and the “Yeah, but” excuses start flying with vehemence & vigor …

“Yeah, but the Old Testament says …”
“Yeah, but the terrorists last weeek …”
“Yeah, but Paul says in Romans …”
“Yeah, but Love is sometimes tough …”
“Yeah, but we can’t always be perfect …”
“Yeah, but we need to weed the garden first …”

And to all these feeble cop-outs I humbly say —

no … No …. NO!!!

We humans have this irritating tendency to receive Divine Truths and then follow them only up the point they become uncomfortable. Then the excuses and the boundaries and the limitations and the rationalizations come out and whittle those Truths down to where they lose all their Power and become devoid of most of their Meaning … We choose convenience over courage and selfishness over sanctity. We choose comfort over consequence and ease over ethics.

We do so to justify condemning those we don’t like, we do so to “defend ourselves” against those we fear (which always ultimately backfires, by the way), and we do so to shield ourselves from having to reach out in acts of bold & noble self-sacrifice.

And yet that is NOT what LOVE is all about, my Friends — and, especially important for all Christians, that is NOT the Way of Jesus Christ!

God — at least the heavenly Father of Jesus — is not angry, He is merciful (Luke 6:36) … He is not veangeful, He is forgiving (John 5:22 + Matthew 18:21-22) … He is not a God of punishment, but a God of perfect, uncvonditional, never-ending Caring for ALL His children (Matthew 5:48 + 1 John 4.18).

To worship anything less is fine, of course. And yet to worship anything less is to worship a lesser God — and to worship anything less is NOT to worship the God of Jesus!

Call me a blasphemer or label me a heretic if you wish (Jesus himself was often called worse), and yet I will go to my grave champioining the GREATEST LOVE — a Divine Love — a Love that knows no limitations & sets no boundaries — a Love that has the courage to stand between an enemy and his intended victims with Forgiveness for him on my lips and Love for him in my Heart. For THIS is the LOVE that God is made of — and THIS is the LOVE that we ALL have been called to emulate & enliven.

So for me, when the Bible (or any other holy tome, for that matter) says “God is Love”, I take it literally … I won’t water it down and I won’t cut off its corners — I will see Him (or Her, or It) as LOVE, period … And when the Bible (or any other sacred book) tells me to “Love my enemies”, I take that literally as well. There will be no “Yeah, but” coming from my lips, and there will be no exceptions as to whom I choose to give that LOVE.

For God to be worthy of worship, He must be more than an Essence of “Love, but” or “Love, maybe” or “Love, if deserving” … For God to be worth worshiping, He must be composed of raw, pure, unadulterated, perfectly exceptionless LOVE — period!

And for me to then worship Him effectively & devoutly, I have no choice but to act accordingly — by having the courage to act similarly.

Peace to ALL … S

(inspired by Benjamin L. Corey & Vanessa Curley)

“There is only love, and the absence of love. In other words, there is love, and all the things that God is not. Fear, hate, prejudice, judgement, condemnation… do not come from love, and therefore do not come from God. It’s what we’re left with when we cut ourselves off from love… when we cut ourselves off from God.” ~ Chris Broughton

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt