God is Love

God is love. (1 John 4:8b)

Therefore:

• God is patient, longsuffering. God never gives up on anyone.

• God is kind. God cares deeply about every living thing.

• God is not envious of anyone or anything.

• God is never boastful or arrogant. God is meek, humble.

• God is never rude or coercive.

• God doesn’t force Godself on anyone.

• God is not irritable.

• God does not keep account of sins or wrongdoing.

• God carries no grudges.

• God rejoices in truth, never in injustice.

• God looks for the best, is hopeful, and generous.

• God is joyful. God is happy.

• God is peaceful and calm.

• God is gentle. God is nice.

• God is good. (All the time.)

• God is faithful, even when we aren’t.

• God never flies off the handle.

• God never fails.

(Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

In the large evangelical church of which I was a part I sometimes heard people say of Jesus that he is the “lamb who has become a lion.” That is backwards. In the scene in Revelation 4-5, John is seeing a vision of heaven. He hears a voice saying, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed….” He turns to look, but there is no lion, only a little slaughtered but alive lamb. Jesus is ever the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and who defeats cosmic evil through self-sacrificial, other-oriented, cruciform love. He “slays” lies with truth and hatred with love. He conquers death by dying and sin by absorbing it in himself.

God is exactly like Jesus. There is nothing unchristlike in God.

As Thomas Merton said somewhere, “God is mercy, wrapped in mercy, wrapped in mercy.”

God is not mad at you. God loves you. Unconditionally. No strings attached. There is nothing you have done, nothing you’re doing, nothing you could do, that will make God stop loving you.

God is love.