It is foundational to knowing God
that we understand He is Love. Another scripture explicitly
saying the same thing is 1 John 4:16: "...God is
love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."
If we think about the people who've most loved us
-- perhaps a mother, father, a spouse, a mentor -- perhaps a
grandparent, aunt or uncle -- or a special friend, none of them loves
us to the extent that God loves us. All human love as
wonderful and deep as it might be cannot begin to compare to God's love
for us.
There are several beautiful word pictures in
scripture that help us understand the depth of God's love.
One is in Isaiah 40:11 "He will feed His flock like a
shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry
them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young."
Jesus refers to himself as the "Good Shepherd". In John
10:14-15 He says, "'I am the good shepherd;...and I lay down My life
for the sheep.'" The familiar 23rd Psalm beginning with the
words, "The Lord is my shepherd...." fills out that image.
In Matthew 23:37 Jesus uses a maternal image to
describe His love for Jerusalem's inhabitants, "...How often I wanted
to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings,..."
And creation itself is a witness to the love of
God. As part of that creation we are "fearfully and
wonderfully made" and we exist in a tremendously intricate and
entertwined system of physical and chemical constants -- of matter and
of life. And it all works well -- VERY well! That's
by design, care and concern -- proceeding from God's love.
Two verses in John chapter 3 -- verses 16 and 17
encapsulate the depth of God's love for us: "For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlsting life. For God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved." Again, this is a
loving, caring, concerned parent -- the God who loves us.
1 John 4:9-10 says it this way, "In this the love
of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins."
GOD IS LOVE!
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