Yes! There is Good News! 7.3.2016

We have given some thought to the three aspects of how we are to love God. Someone may say, “Now I know something about loving God; how is that good news?”

I believe that is a fair question. But in asking the question, one must assume that good news comes only from receiving something, and not giving something. And from a purely human standpoint, I must disagree with this assessment. True joy comes to us when we can give of ourselves to another. It is only a child that believes good comes from receiving. The anticipation of a gift on the part of a youth can be delightful to watch. Why? Because we can understand the maturity level held by a child.

When an infant is born, the maturity level stands at a flat zero. There is only room for growth. How much love does the baby have for others? The answer is also zero. A newborn has many needs; one of the greatest needs it has is for love. The love a mother and father have for the infant is inherently great enough to make up for the lack of love in the child. One might say the “love” that a human has is directly proportional to the level of maturity that exists in a human. Allow me to make another formulaic statement: The level of maturity that exists in a human is directly proportional to the joy he or she receives in giving of self to another. Maturity and love for others travel hand in hand.

Okay - so let’s not get too out of hand. We are talking about love for God, and how that can be the good news we are looking for. But we also made the analogy of an infant’s love for a parent. The love of a parent will teach the infant how to love. And so it is with our Father in Heaven. The scripture leads us to this same conclusion. The epistle of 1 John is said to be the “love book” in the Bible. And the topic of love comes to an apex in the fourth chapter. As we make our way down this chapter, we come to the nineteenth verse where we read, “We love because He first loved us.”

Can we just stop here and ponder the fact that even before we understood that there was a God, even before we knew who that God was, He loved us!

In the proceeding chapter of 1 John, Chapter 3, we read, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I cannot as of yet place everyone on the Earth as being called children of God. But you ... you are reading this column and I pray you are being led to see God’s love for you and so are coming to see what manner of love you are to have for this Father of ours.

To be continued ... stay tuned!