God is love

Theologians tell us that we can never know God completely.  We cannot wrap our finite minds around the infinite God.  Whatever words we use to describe God must fall far short of the reality of God.  In essence, we must reduce God whenever we try to fit God into mere words.  Ideally, our proper response to God would be sheer awe and silence.

However, God reveals himself (there I go, reducing God to a male being, but it can’t be helped) to us in many ways.  God reveals himself to us in the beauty of his creation, in the sacred words of Scripture, in faith-filled prayer, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, through the sacraments, and, most perfectly, in the incarnation of his son, Jesus.

This self-revelation of God is vital, for a foundational revelation is that God desires to be in relationship with us and with his creation.  Thus, we believe that God is not simply a divine clock-maker  who winds up the world and then leaves it, never again to be interested or concerned about it.  As relationship is impossible with knowing something of the other, God’s continuing self-revelation allows us to know something of God, even if it cannot be the totality of God.

Perhaps one of the most succinct, yet deeply profound, revelations of God is found in the first letter of John, chapter 4, verse 8 – “God is love.”

For most of my life, I saw this as platitudinous, not profound.  My vision of love was quite saccharine – the doting love of parents for their newborn child or the infatuating love of newlyweds for each other.  Love was romantic, that rare and often fleeting emotion that caused particular people to feel deeply attached to each other, to feel that they could not live apart from one other.  It sounded so glorious to my ears, but this is only a pale shadow of the gospel version of love, the love to which John equates God.

It was my own thinking that was shallow, not John’s insight.  I had completely missed the scope of Christian love, what this implies about God, and, more importantly, the transformational implications this has for my life and my relationships with God and with every other human being.

God’s love is universal, not for the few, but for the many – “God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (Jn 3:16a).  God’s love for us is gratuitous, not conditioned by our merits, for “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).  To return and to pass on God’s love is the essence of what God requires of us – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:37-39).  Christian love mirrors God’s universal and unconditional love – “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mt 5:44)  Christian love is sacrificial – “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (Jn 15:13).  Love identifies us as Christians – “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:35).

Contrary to my childish understanding, Christian love is not an emotion I passively fall into, it is a choice I actively make.  It is the choice God made when he gave us life.  It is the choice God made when he became one of us.  It is the choice Jesus made when he died for each one of us.  It is the choice we make to abide in love with God.  It is the choice we make to love every other human being as God loves, without limit or condition.  As Pope John Paul II describes love, it is the choice we make to want and to do that which is the best for the other at all times.

Like all choices, Christian love is dichotomous.  If we choose one thing, we must necessarily reject that which contradicts our choice.  We cannot have our cake and eat it too.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose hope; we reject despair.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose gentleness; we reject anger.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose courage; we reject fear.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose generosity; we reject greed.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose kindness; we reject violence.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose mercy; we reject vengeance.

Choosing to live in God’s love, we choose life; we reject death.

God is love.  Choose God.  Choose love.