God is Love

Y’all… I’ve been thinking about love lately. 

(Okay, yes, that kind of love, too, because the human side of me is OVER being single 😂.) But mainly—and most importantly—love when it comes to God. Particularly that God is love. I’ve spent the past few months trying to wrap my head around it. Here’s the conclusion that I’ve come to.

First, the Bible tells us, through Paul in Ephesians 3:19, that we will never fully be able to understand God’s love. Accepting this may save you some headaches. (Don’t ask me how I know.) I knew that verse at the beginning of this particular journey, but I kept pressing down this road anyway, trying to figure out God’s love. 

I kept asking “How could you love humans? We are so flawed!” Better yet, I wanted to know why. Particularly, why did God love me? I was, and am so fflllllaaaaaawwwweeeedddd. I mean, I mess up all the time. Like, all the time. I get grouchy, and though I’m learning to hold my tongue, I can definitely unleash it. But of course, that starts an entire cycle of guilt, which brings me back to my first question… 

God, why do you love me? 

I have made so many mistakes. Like, countless. (Like writing “like” too many times already in this blog post!) I’ve had so many failures. Committed too many sins. I did my best and tried to be an example, but my marriage didn’t work. I’m a single mother now, and the internet says that nobody loves those!!! I started businesses, but none of them have ever really been super successful. And I had dreams of being a prolific writer but I proved to be no Tyler Perry as they always reminded me. And I still don’t know what to feed this picky eater you’ve blessed me with. This blueberries only phase was only supposed to last a few weeks and we’re well over a year of this and bananas, but he’s cute and the reason I smile so I’m going to roll with it, but I did get mad at him yesterday and doesn’t that make me a horrible mother? I’m supposed to be godly!!! And sin? You know how many times I indulged. Repeatedly. Over and over again. At first because I was weak but then because I chose to. And when I tried the “I’m only human” excuse I knew it didn’t please you but I used it as a “Get Out of Judgment Free” card. WWWWWHHHHYYYYYYY DO YOU LOVE MMMMEEEEE?!?!!!! OLD (not oh—OLD) WRETCHED WO-MAN THAT I AM!!!!) 

Don’t know if you can tell, but that is some serious spiritual anxiety. And I’ve come to realize this anxiousness over the things of God, including His love, was really—at least for me—a combination of fear and a lack of trust. Specifically, fear of judgment and not truly believing all of God’s word. 

Let’s break this down further. 

What is fear? 

The definition can vary, depending on the context, but generally, it is “the emotion elicited by a sense of alarm or danger or anticipation of a negative experience”. It’s being scared of God. Scared that He’s going to kill you if you make the wrong move. Scared that He’s going to strike you down the very moment you mess up. Scared that everything He blessed you with He’s going to take away because you failed. Scared that for whatever reason He will throw you on that dung pile He walked about in Malachi 2:3. (Side note: I mean… can we just take a moment to acknowledge… the horror… of that. I mean… maybe if somebody throws a few seeds on it something might come up after it rains… But… Do I have to be there…? Because I just want to be righteous….) 

Walking around like this, trying to exist with God like this, is fear of judgment, and it is toxic to godliness. The Bible talks about this. (The book really will tell you how to live if you just read it.) 

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. ~1 John 4:16-18 (NLT)

Perfect love expels all fear. 

Fear here is the same Greek word φόβος (phobos) defined before. But let’s look at the word “perfect.” It’s the Greek word τέλειος (teleios). It doesn’t mean perfect as it never makes a mistake or falls off the diet wagon every time donuts come into peripheral vision. (Shhhh. Pray for me.) It means “perfect, mature, complete, initiated, fully developed. Describes something complete, mature believers, and the perfection of God.”

Mature, complete, initiated, and fully developed. 

“Oh, baby.” (Me, talking to my grown 40+ years old self). “You’re still going through growing pains?” 

This is a maturity issue. 

Let’s look at the same scripture again in context. 

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins…

14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 

18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first. ~1 John 4:7-19 (NLT) 

This excerpt is a little lengthy for a blog post, but I wanted to include all of it so that a bigger picture of the message of love (and the Gospel, and the entire Bible) could be seen. Verse 9 tells us clearly that the message of God’s love is in Jesus, His one and only Son. God’s love is Jesus Christ. Birth. Death. And resurrection. And it has nothing to do with behavior. It was and still is Yahweh’s choice to love us. Our forgiveness is granted through grace alone. Not works. Not because we earned it. We. Never. Could. It’s only because He wants to, and that’s only because of love. Ultimately, attempting to walk in perfection (perfect behavior), that is to say “I have to do everything right in order to be accepted by You, to be loved by you” is a rejection of His love. Like, “Nope. You couldn’t be that nice. I have to do something to get this from you.” That is a rejection of His love. A rejection of His love is a rejection of Christ (because that’s how God proved His love for us). A rejection of Christ is a rejection of salvation (because accepting Christ is how we are redeemed). We. Can’t. Earn. Salvation. And that is exactly what trying to be perfect to earn salvation out of fear of judgment does. We have to simply accept it. 

Accepting God’s love in its entirety, even the parts you don’t understand, is what stomps out fear. Like a big ol’ T-Rex during the Jurassic period. Just stomps all that doubt about Him loving you (the entire Bible message. You know, the other part of spiritual anxiety I mentioned earlier) and your little flawed self away. 

Relax. He loves you. 

Whew! That was a hard lesson to learn!!! 

But I think I have it now. I pray I never forget it. 

Until next time. I love you with the love of Christ.

Your sister in salvation, 

LaShanda 

REFERNECES

1.) Miles Custis, “Fear,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

2.) Adriani Milli Rodrigues, “Perfection,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).