God is Love…..
Actually, God’s love is very simple to know about, because
God makes it easy for us; but, given the common global penchant for material
wealth, evil, and the sinful exploitation of others, this simple truth seems
really hard to acquire and follow through on. Has run right through human
history! And we find ourselves in the middle of the Parable of the Sower – the
good, the bad, and the ugly. Reminds me of that Dwayne Johnson movie about
Christmas called Red One where he is quitting the Santa movement because the
adults are becoming so bad he doesn’t want to deal with giving presents to
them, and the destructive habits of the parents are poisoning the children! But
here we go, into Christmas week!
This all begins with John 3:16. But there is much more there
than seems to be, in the verse. God created this world out of love; God
lovingly made potential and possibility for God’s creation, so we could take on
a lovely and beautiful opportunity. But this creation proved wayward and
unwilling to cope with free will freely given. But that was the hope and the
experiment. Humanity has never been predetermined by this creating God! The
experiment continues!
From the myth of Adam and Eve, through the struggle of a
people called Israel who kept failing, and who finally followed the movement of
earthly kings and their priorities and shifted into an entirely materialistic
form, armed with weapons, and not the spirit of God. Unable to grace the
world. This falling away continued with
the early church, which created Councils to decide what constituted the Bible
and what didn’t, so that we lost some 20 years of Jesus’ historical life. Why?
He disappeared? Did he really? Then came divisions in the church, even from its
early beginnings. Peter is the rock. Well, the rock split. And kept splitting.
And none of the fragments could do what the apostles in the generation after
Jesus had been doing. The power of the good news gradually faded and
dissipated. But it left very hopeful words. Hence, we inherited much talk about
faith and belief. Easy way to go. Blame the victim. Or blame ‘Satan’. The true
gospel of godly power was lost, like the cup of Christ. Reduced to talk, words,
and sometimes inspiring persuasion.
But think of what Jesus said about giving a cup of cold
water to someone who needs it - you have
given it to me, he said. To God himself. Meant very clearly to teach us. God’s
love reaches out to every human heart of God’s creation. All we need is to
welcome God there. Behold, Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock! God
watches. God blesses. Do not look for what you want. Look for where God is
leading you to. Every act of kindness and care that is done is rewarded with
the ability to do more care and kindness; and this results in an overflow that
strengthens the recipient, who begins to
grow in a new way and is able to go help others, unless they choose not to! !
By contrast, have you not noticed how, when someone is mean or cruel to you, it
takes your ‘strength’ away? Or it feels like some energy has been taken away
from you? That which is good is godly, and it builds, encourages and
strengthens. That which is not, detracts from and harms the human spirit, and makes
us weak, small, limited, and in the end, mean and cruel. Both aspects have
always happened; and they still happen. The other centered love of God, vs the
self-centered meanness of much of an evil influenced human spirit.
But be of good cheer. God’s love is very real, very alive,
and all around us in the good, godly, simple folk who walk this earth; those
who hear the voice of God and see the need of others. No blood is shed, but
people are helped. Love is all around us. And it works to cover and protect us
from all of the madness and evil around.
But know this also - the love of God will itself bring
judgement and woe unto everyone who would harm someone else. They will pay now
or worse still, face the evil that they have created for others themselves,
twice over when they leave this world. In that Red One movie, the punishment is
solitude, forever. Interesting. Almost like the opposite of community. Or like
someone once said, no man is an island. It is the other side of the house of
many rooms, for hell is grossly oversimplified. We create it ourselves. At the
end of this life we either go with Elijah or face a Red Sea crossing that will
slowly choke and drown us. Continually? Like the weird story in the Pan Book of
Horror Stories series years ago – where after being cursed, every night boils
would grow out of the man, and out of these boils, heads would appear and
remind him of all the wicked deeds he had done. He’d cut th talking heads off
with a knife. But they would come up again in new boils, and this would go on
all night, every night. Interesting.
Heaven is something else. There you start growing, as Jesus
said: they neither marry nor give in marriage. And shape, form, and function
move beyond this life. and you may travel from room to ‘room’ in the house of
the Father, which is not a house! Think dimensions. Or will in Star Trek with
the Traveler. Remember the limits of what the New Testament writers were
struggling with, and why John’s Revelation is still consistently misunderstood
and misinterpreted.
But the love of God brings strength to all those who
practice kindness on this earth and brings blessing straightaway into their
lives. Remember, salvation = deliverance, now! It is not hope, it is much more.
You must see it coming, and then it comes. Folk will find Jesus in their own
way, through their own little cups of cold water to those in need. More likely,
Jesus will find them. God has an interesting sense of humor! And some of us
won’t even realize this because we fail to observe kind deeds and look at
‘distractions’ like the color of a person’s skin. But the One God is neither
mocked nor fooled. God is of no color. On the other hand, God is of many
colors. Remember also what Jesus said
about different folk coming from all corners, who would end up sitting at table
in the Kingdom of God.
God is love = God’s love is in you if you accept it, and
then it becomes you and becomes God’s love to whomever you share it with! John
3:16 is the painful sacrificial love of the caring Father who comes to us, and
even in rejection, dies to deliver us from the sinfulness of an evil will. Be
willing to die for someone else. It is the willingness that makes the
difference. It is a willingness that God can see. It will give you a sense of
God’s love. We may take on good-will anytime, and create good, and make
community strong, and bring joy and happiness into the lives of others. And
with this all comes health. And wisdom. And the power to move, alter and shape
a thing, whatever it be. Go, discover. While the rest of the world is singing
merrily and drinking even more merrily, there will be opportunity and chance to
help someone in some way. Neither you nor they will be disappointed. You will
both grow, because of the love of God. The more it is shared, the more real it
becomes, the stronger it effects change, and the more we are enabled to do.
The will to love enables the will to heal. Love heals.
Walk in the love of Jesus!
And the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his
face shine upon you this Christmas, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up
His countenance upon you and protect you, and give you His peace. Barki nafshi
eth Athonai.
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