TRUE LOVE

Image found here.

In studying theology, I honestly believe I am getting a handle on what Love truly is. Slowly. Gradually. Imperfectly. Reluctantly. Cautiously. Excitedly.

Fundamentally, the image above, which some of my Facebook friends have had as a profile picture for a while, is absolutely true.

My dissertation is on one of the most stereo-typically un-loving things in the Christian arsenal. The Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God, which naturally raises questions about predestination. But, whilst writing an Essay for a module on Pauline theology, I had a bit of a brainwave. Or, rather, the following popped into my head unbidden. Unexpectedly. Excitingly.

"Predestination is the simple explanation, in the all-encompassing context of God's Overwhelming Love, of why Jesus Christ died for sinners"

I've been privileged to be writing a dissertation looking at the way that John Calvin, one of the pioneers of Reformed Christianity, explored the outworking of the passionate love of our Awesome God.

I love this quote from Daniel Migliore;

"While the Reformed tradition emphasizes the Sovereignty of God, it defines divine sovereignty and power not as sheer omnipotence but as the very particular power revealed in the servant lordship and costly love of the crucified and risen Jesus.

Because the word "love" is often used in a loose and sentimental way, one is tempted to avoid it altogether in attempting to express the depth of the biblical proclamation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Christian theology does not define God in terms of love but defines love in terms of the being and acts of God attested in Scripture"

I think that is absolutely true.

God's Sovereignty, his overwhelming, crazy love is utterly expressed in the person, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Love is too easily defined or explained in ways that totally devalue its true meaning.

God is too easily brushed aside due to misunderstanding.

True Love is expressed by God.

Get in on it.