God is passionately in love with you.It's a scary thought for some of us. We are conditioned to believe that God is looking for an excuse to punish us. Watch out or he will smite you!
God is not out to smite you. He loves you and wants you to inherit the Kingdom.
We hear Scriptures such as "God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." But we somehow twist it to be something else. Maybe "God loves the world except for me." Or "God loves the world or at least those who attain a certain level of goodness..."
But there it is-- God loves the world, no exceptions, enough to die for it.
Some of us are scared by the idea of a passionate God. We turn God into some sort of accountant devoid of emotions. Preachers of the Anglican persuasion do this a lot, I've noticed, but that's not to pick on them. They take the Greek word for God's love which isagape and then strip all the love out of it until it feels like God is just weighing us up all the time to see if we are worth the bother. But that's not what agape love is about.
Agape is a Greek word for love that is selfless. Love that gives and gives without expectation of return, for no other reason than we love the person. Sometimes it is portrayed as emotionless love, love based on the value of the beloved. But that us an accountant's love not God's love! (Not to pick on accountants- I'm just making the point that God's love is not based on a value judgement)
In the Old Testament God is often portrayed as a husband who woos his wife Israel, only to find over and over again that she betrays Him. He does everything possible to win her back, even resorting occasionally to a bit of "smiting"-- but never out of anger or vengeance, only ever to call her back from her worship of other "gods."
A passionate God loves His people- in fact the whole world- with an undying love. That means you also.
Could you just open your heart a little bit today and take a risk in believing it?
When the fire of God's passion touches your heart, you will love Him passionately in return. It could change your life.
Well written Keith. My default version of the John 3:16 mindgame is 'Yes, God so loved the world...I am part of that world, therefore He has to put up with me'...something I think has been renewed until I realise it isn't once again. Personally I find reading the OT prophetic books really good for feeding my soul with the truth of a passionate God...spurring me to once again dare believe that God could be madly in love with me.
ReplyDeleteIt is something that many of us struggle with, I think. How could the great, majestic, all-powerful, all-knowing God see me and love me? Let alone love me passionately. But He does!I guess faith is learning to believe in our heart that we are LOVED
ReplyDelete