Sunday Pastor Bart said something like “God’s love isn’t possessive–it is giving, permissive, letting it go.” God doesn’t force us to love Him. Even when we do not show Him love, He still loves us. That is who He is. Love is more than an emotion, it is more than an action, it is all about who we are, it is an integral part of our being. And that is not easy.
I frequently go back to Philippians 2:1-11 when talking about how we are to love each other in the same way God loves us. There is so much packed into those 11 verses; an urging to love, theologically important statements about Jesus, and an early hymn of the Church. Paul’s statement regarding our love for each other, “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” is central to the passage. Be like Jesus! But what does that entail?
Paul says, “[Jesus], who being in the very nature God” did something wonderful. Jesus is God but He loves us so much that he became “the very nature of a servant” becoming as if nothing compared to being God. God gives away everything including His “very nature” of being God and His earthly life so that we might live eternal. That is love. It is the love we are to take on to ourselves, make it our very nature. Love doesn’t take or possess, it gives away that others might be lifted up.
What is it that right now you don’t want to let go but God is saying to you, “Give it up. It’s ok, I will take care of you.”
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! - 1 John 3:1
