daily java

Daily Java: And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.- 1 John 4:16.

God loves us. Like any good parent’s love, his love is a challenging love. It gives a high standard to aspire to. It is not just an open love – do whatever you want – but a strong love, a call to a higher level. He will always love us, and wants us to be better than what we are.

When people preach God, they preach love. When people preach doctrine, and against things, and wrath – all parts of God, to be sure – but not God’ love, they are not preaching God. God’s nature is love. Without it, there is no God. It is a real love, wanting you to come to him.

The problem for the preacher is that it is too easy to preach the wrath of God. It thunders well, it is descriptive, it is more interesting. The love of God just seems wimpy.

I was preaching one Sunday several years ago. I had been in the ministry about 10 years and could thunder on the wrath and commandments of God with the best. One Sunday, for some reason, I spoke on his love. I had decided there needed to be some balance.

As I was at the back, shaking the church out of the auditorium, a man, a visitor that Sunday, came up and told me that it was a good sermon and all, but that we needed to hear more on the commandments of God and what he demanded of us, and less on stuff like his love and grace.

Guilt immediately surrounded me, and I agreed. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the man was a fool.

The Bible says the fool says in his heart there is no God. When he heard my sermon on the love of God and his mercy and grace, and said that God was more into stuff like Thou shalt nots, he proved himself to be a fool. And me, too, when I agreed with him.

At that point, the epiphany came in my way of thinking. God is not into stuff, God is into love. God is not stuff, God is love. The stuff God says is important, true, but it is out of love for us and is not his nature. His nature is love.

When my children were small, I told them to do things, and occasionally punished them. But that was not my nature. If my children were to say, our dad is tough and demanding. And other children were to ask, does he love you. And my children were to say, well, yes, but what he says is more important. Then I have missed the whole point of parenting.

I learned at one time that a parent cannot have zero tolerance for stuff. In fact, only fools try to maintain zero tolerance for stuff. There are too many variables.

My son was suspended for fighting in Jr High. He had defended himself when another child began to hit him. Because there were two involved, both were suspended. The school district was too lazy to sort out what was right and so had a zero tolerance for fighting.

I defended him to the school board, but they stood adamant. So I told them that I was proud of my son for acting like a man, an action in which they were remiss, and would encourage him to wear his suspension proudly and boldly.

There are always extenuating circumstances. Witness the reaction of Jesus with the woman caught in adultery in John 7 and 8. Even though she was obviously guilty of breaking the law, Jesus got everybody off her back about it and forgave her. That is because he showed the nature of God.

God would rather have the person love him than obey him, hard as that is to believe. Any fool can obey you, but not everybody can love you.

That is his nature. Of course, if you love him, you will obey him. That goes without saying.

I want to be like God. I want to love people.