The Most Blessed Attribute
\nCopyright by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
God is love. 2nd John 4 declares this twice and we so deeply need to believe, to know, the truth of this statement. For some reason Evangelicals today seem to shy away from declaring it. Maybe it is because the term was misused during the 1960\u2019s and 70\u2019s by those who mistook love for license. Perhaps it stems from our strong repudiation of the spirit of Universalism which has infected so many churches that call themselves Christian, but do not understand the magnitude of sin. The problem is that in counterbalancing this error we have sometimes forgotten that the love of God springs from the His very nature. God doesn\u2019t love begrudgingly, God loves because He is love itself.<\/p>\n
We also know the Lord has the capacity to hate. He hates what is evil, that which is contrary to His good and perfect will, that which destroys the human race which He created in His image. We know that He is capable of justifiable wrath. Yet, at the same time, scripture never describes God as hate. He hates but, if we believe John, it is not the core of His nature. If God\u2019s anger was greater than His love none of us would have any hope at all. The essence of love is grace and it is only grace that makes possible the redemption of sinful human beings. The redemption found in the cross of Christ provides the triumph of love in fulfilling the divine mandate for justice. <\/p>\n
It is so easy to fear God in the worst sense of the word. Our consciences tell us not only that we are capable of terrible things but that we have done terrible things. The enemy of our souls sees an opening to torment us and constantly whispers in our ears (or shouts) that we are too evil to hope for true repentance and reconciliation with our Creator. At such times a believer is tempted to despair. The Christian starts to doubt whether a holy God can love him or her. It seems that divine anger is greater than divine love. We fear the God of justifiable wrath and lose sight of the God of gratuitous love.<\/p>\n
He, however, has not stopped loving us. It is the nature of God, and thus the nature of love, to be steadfast. It is the nature of God, and thus the nature of love, not to give up on its object. Our feelings, subjective and influenced by so many things which are not real, may tell us that God does not love us anymore. Our feelings may even tell us that He never did. Our feelings are not to be trusted. Sometimes emotions are in harmony with the truth, but very often they are not. In and of themselves they may lead us to believe in what seems to be ultimate reality, but is actually the spirit of error.<\/p>\n
When, through deceptive emotions, the believer has come to fear God in the wrong sense and for the wrong reasons he or she is in desperate need of recalling the foundational truth communicated in 1st John 4. As we will to believe, to know, that our Lord is love we will be able, with the help of the Spirit, to put our fear away. 1st John 4:18 go\u2019s on to tell us that \u201cperfect love casts out fear\u201d. God is perfect thus His love is as well. Love will triumph because He is the Lover. Love is greater than fear because it is grounded in the character of almighty God. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Most Blessed Attribute Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved God is love. 2nd John 4 declares this twice and we so deeply need to believe, to know, the truth of this statement. For some reason Evangelicals today seem to shy away from declaring it. Maybe it is because the term was misused during… <\/p>\n