On the Love of God

(This not the same post as yesterday, but it is a work in progress, so feedback is welcome)

It is dangerous and faulty logic at work when someone says, “This good thing happened to me, therefore, God loves me.” While this seems true, and I am in no way claiming that God doesn’t do good things for His children, great danger lurks just beneath the surface of such a “good” thought.

“This horrible thing happened to me, therefore, God does not love me.” This, you may realize, is the same logic. Cognitively, most Christians know that God’s love is unconditional, but because we lack a concrete example that such a thing exists and is possible our hearts resist the notion. Unconditional love becomes a mere fairytale idea that inspires the downtrodden, rather than the transformational truth that permeates God and all that He is, does, has done, and will do.

The existence of such a love, a love without conditions, is horrifying news for control freaks, self-proclaimed unlovables, and people like you and I who have gone great lengths to convince ourselves that we, the finite human race, have the power within and among us, to control the emotions of our infinite and all-knowing Creator. When we’re feeling especially bold, we test our self-imposed limits of “unconditional” love, tirelessly searching for a divine loophole that we can trap our Abba in, and in ignorant confidence proclaim, “Ha! I told you! I told you I could make you stop loving me!”

Despite our relentless tantrums, God’s love loves on, frustrating our feeble attempts to prove to the Almighty that we are in no need of His enduring affection.

If man were to cease to fight off the unconditional love of God, he would have to quiet his self-loathing and stop sipping from the well of lies brewing within him. Love is dangerous, very, very dangerous. The familiar and safe darkness that incases as person’s most cherished lies about their identity and worth cannot withstand the liberating light of love.