Someone said to me once, “God means love.”
At the time, I didn’t think much of it. Yeah, God and love are pretty tight, so a simple statement connecting the two seems to make sense at first glance.
But the more I thought about it, the more the statement troubled me.
“God means love…”
It’s the ‘means’ that gets to me.
I don’t know for sure, I’m probably off my rocker a bit, but using that word to connect God and love doesn’t sound like the right word.
When I use ‘means’ in a conversation, I am trying to explain something, or manipulate the subject into the way I want to use it in the particular instance. It opens up the subject to broader interpretation, which for God and love I’m not sure I’m comfortable with.
I prefer a more direct statement, something that, instead of loosening understanding, strengthens it.
Something that fits in with the Gospel message.
“For God so loved the world…” John 3:16
“How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!” Psalm 36:7
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7
“But God–so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us.” Ephesians 2:4
“The greatest of these is love” 1 Corinthians 13:13
And so on and so on…
So instead of sounding like we’re trying to redefine God, why not just say it straight:
“God is love”
Yes, he can be many other things to people. But first and foremost in my mind is He is love. All else He has ever done for me and through me has come to me after I first discovered His love for me. It’s where we start. From there we learn of everything else.
It’s a simple statement, but it says a lot.
God is love.
And it sounds really great in a song…
If you have trouble viewing the video… click here.