ABOUT LOVE
The cause of most if not all inner suffering in this world (an imperfect reflection on a human level) because of not receiving love. A person can be told they are loved and even know they are loved, but may be unable to receive that love. That is because they do not believe that they can live up to that love, or they have had love taken away from them and don’t trust in its power or reality any more. Yet everyone needs to know they are loved in order to be able to love. (Love is e...
ABOUT LOVE
The cause of most if not all inner suffering in this world (an imperfect reflection on a human level) because of not receiving love. A person can be told they are loved and even know they are loved, but may be unable to receive that love. That is because they do not believe that they can live up to that love, or they have had love taken away from them and don’t trust in its power or reality any more. Yet everyone needs to know they are loved in order to be able to love. (Love is everywhere)
Love is the most powerful healing force in the universe. Lack of love is the most powerful destructive force in the universe. Somebody asked me the other day what I would answer if someone who didn’t believe in God asked me the question ‘What is God doing for me now?’ My answer is ‘God is loving you with all of his heart.’
God’s love is the value, above all other things that gives meaning to everything else that exists. There is no higher thing. It is the Eternal Reality -The ultimate truth). It is one thing to write ‘Eternity’ on footpaths, but it is another thing to have it written upon the heart (Ecc 3:11). ‘God is love’ is God’s signature written upon the heart of every human being that is born.
What follows on from this is that God loves every person that He created. This is the essence of the Good News – A constant factor in the equation of us and God. This is why Jesus came into the world (Jn 3:16). If we do not understand this, then we will set some other constant factor into the formula of our lives. This other factor will be our life experience, which is the facts and data of our everyday life, the good things and the bad things, and all the in between things that happen to us. This will become what we use to judge whether life has meaning or not. That will distort the true equation so that depending on how well life goes for us will determine for us in our minds whether God loves us or not. Our life situation is elastic and stretches backwards and forwards in time, in and out of reality and tied to our crazy emotions. But life is now – God’s love is always now.
The greatest reasonS that people find it difficult to believe that there can be a God arises from the overwhelming reality of evil in the world and of personal adversity. The existence of evil in the world is the result of the poor choices of a self-serving fallen humanity that causes it to continually ‘miss the true mark’ of God’s will and purpose of His gift of life to us. ‘Missing the mark’ hamartia, is the Greek word used for ‘sin’ in the Bible, ‘getting it wrong’. All have got it wrong and fallen short (Rom 3.23)
What does it mean in Romans 8:35 when it says ‘Nothing can separate us from the love of God, shall tribulation or distress or adversity…’ in other words, our life experiences, good and bad. I believe it means that none of these things stop God’s love from beaming towards us. But we can give up on God in those times and not believe in that love.
If we can trust God that he is working all things together for good for our inner and outer life journey, then we are on track in going forward in the course of our lives. In fact every challenge of faith that comes from God is designed to get us back on that course. Therefore we can see that faith in this love of God is the perfect disposition to have. because it allows for the greatest opportunity for us to become the person we were designed by God to be, with a moment by moment awareness of how to choose the most important, loving and caring thing to do in our personal world – first for our own inner journey, and then for the goodwill of God for others. Take first use of the Oxygen.
This all requires reflection. It must be focused upon and thought through and totally believed in. it must be balanced with our disappointments and griefs and losses that are very real feelings of perhaps being forsaken, and let down, even by God. Reflection means to set time aside. Measure what is causing distress. Put it in its right place by seeing the greater significance in the true reality. Then look forward to what God is working out for us, for His best for us, then just let it be. (Once a week, fortnight, every moment?)
Once you can get to that place of reflection (breadth length Depth height)that gives you the will to accept this truth of God’s all-encompassing and purposeful love, then you are on course. Everything fits into place – you are going in the right direction. When God intervenes in our affairs it can seem like an interruption to our self determined progress, but it is designed to bring the revelation of God, and His love. It is done to purify our hearts (Acts 15.9). When we see that God is doing this in our lives and in everyone else’s life, we can stop comparing our circumstances with those of other people, and escape the ‘why me? Syndrome.
The result of allowing God’s love to be the constant factor in the equation of our lives will bring a gradual change in our inner being, producing inner peace. Over time our bad reactions become calm responses. We see life as it really is, from God’s point of view.
We treat God better because we love Him and trust Him.
We treat ourselves better because we know we are loved.
We treat others better because we know God loves them.
Then we can love others as ourselves.
