Friday, July 07, 2006

God's Amazing Love

God's Amazing Love

Have you ever thought of just how amazing God's love is? It's hard to wrap our minds around the complexity and depth of His love for us. I was reading 1 John 4:4-21 and was reminded of how much the world waters down God's attribute of love. Verse 8 says "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (emphasis added). It makes me sad that the world focuses so much on only the second half of the verse. As important as this attribute is, it can't be separated from His other attributes, for it robs God of His true character. In A.W. Tozer's book "The Knowledge of the Holy", he lists 18 attributes of God that are found in the Bible. God is: Infinite, sovereign, wise, Holy, Trinity, omniscient, faithful, omnipotent, self-sufficient, self-existent, just, immutable, merciful, eternal, good, grace, omnipresent AND God is love. None of these can be separated from the others.
In Greek there are actually 4 different words for our one word "love". Understanding those words helps to better appreciate the depth and beauty of God's love. In verse 8, the Greek word for love is "agape" and this is what I will focus on. Agape is a sacrificial and unconditional love, John 3:16. It is a love that doesn't depend on beauty or goodness. God's love stands alone, it is sovereign and independent. Romans 5:8 says; "but God shows His love (agape) for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." God's agape is not self seeking, 1 Cor. 13:5, [agape] "does not seek it's own." God's agape transforms us into treasure. Isa. 13:12 says; "I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir." God's agape seeks us out. Luke 19:10 says; "The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost."
God's love is truly amazing! I'd like you to make a mental picture of a diamond, the Hope Diamond. It's a breath taking diamond of 45.52 carats. Picture all the intricate facets, all gleaming and refracting light. Now imagine that this is a representation of all the attributes of God. If you would say that God is only one attribute...like love...then God becomes nothing but a pane of glass and He loses all His brilliance. It is all of God's attributes that make Him so breathtaking!
God calls you and me to agape because He is agape. To me....it's sobering to think about the kind of love that God calls us to... agape not just for our children and spouses but for our neighbors too. Agape is costly.....are you ready?

MAK

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