What am I learning? I am learning about love. God does not love as we love. See what I am finding in the scriptures, words that not only speak, but live:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...
John 3:16
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10
Christ told his disciples, "I do not give as the world gives," and in another place God says, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." Clearly God is loving us in a profound and powerful way, not a way we are used to receiving or giving. Yet we are called to this same love in response. See the next verse in 1 John:
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:11
When asked for the greatest commandment of God (a trick question, to be sure), Jesus compacted the Gospel down to two scriptures from the old testament and declared that all of the other scriptures rely on these two commands. So let us pay close attention:
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:37-40
I find in these commands something shocking. I find the death of my agenda. I find the fall of my kingdom. I find the losing of my own life. Yet somehow the death of my hopes and plans allows for a new hope to be created within me. The fall of my kingdom makes room for a better kingdom to come. The loss of my old life somehow gives birth to a new, deep, lasting life. I do not know what is best for me. I cannot see the whole story, so I do not understand my present pain. But there is a story. God does not play with people. God does not waste our pain. The great mystery of His plan—and the great display of His power—is the using of evil events for the building of His kingdom. When the testing of our faith develops perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, then our hope will not disappoint us.
The great love we have received, which is poured out on us always, both satisfies all our needs and drowns all our fears. As long as the LORD is my shepherd, I have all that I need. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
