Love and a future hope... something beyond feelings

The strongest relationships are those that transcend feelings and are based on the value we place on the other. This may or may not involves feelings for the other person, but not necessarily. 

We may not be getting anything from a particular relationship at any given moment that would stir our feelings -- though pleasant memories of positive treatment or experiences with them can evoke positive emotions. Our relationship may in fact cost us a great deal of time, effort and resources to remain in it, with no indication of immediate benefit or reward. We do it simply because we value them that much. 

A common example would be caring for a parent with Alzheimer's (or some other debilitating condition), who sacrificed for us growing up so we could have the best life possible. We act in love towards them even though it is completely one-sided, with no appreciation from them *at present. We do it simply because we appreciate them for all they did for us in the past.

*Not unlike our love for our kids is often one sided, with little appreciation by them for what we do for them at the time.

When someone has proven by past deeds they value us; past deeds so great that they impacted us for the rest of our lives, we are willing to act on their behalf regardless of any present gain (or loss). So much so, we would never question their love or their value of us, even though we see no evidence of their love at the time. We are willing to do things for them with no immediate advantage or benefit to us. In fact we are even willing to suffer loss. We see the past benefit from their support, and it's great enough that we feel we could never adequately "return the favor."

Now, what if this is a person we have not actually met but have only experienced the benefit of their actions from afar? Let's say we get a large sum of money from someone who found out we incurred a huge debt beyond our ability to pay it (incurred by our poor choices, no less).  A debt so great we couldn't pay it off in two lifetimes, much in this life. Add to this that the rest of our lives are ruined without help. When this person from afar found out, for some unexplicable reason they took care of our debt. 

Now, what if we are told (i.e., promised) by this same person (through letters), that they still have more to come that is beyond anything we could imagine, even greater than their past kind deeds. Would we choose to believe this promise of future reward based on their past act/proof alone, no matter how little evidence we have of their promise to love/value us at the moment?

What could drive us to believe this promise of future reward when we are not seeing or experiencing any evidence of their love in the moment? Only if what they did for us previously was of such immense value, it is enough to prove their love for us and value of us, whether they ever did anything else. In fact, their past care was so great, we are convinced (we believe) when promised, that most of what they will do is yet to come i.e. we believe this promise because of what they already did in the past. 

Acting for God's glory (i.e. out of a desire to display his great value) is not acting because we necessarily feel like it or because we see any immediate or significant benefit from it. It can be acting in gratitude for past actions that have infinitely benefited us, whether or not we see any future benefit. 

It can also be out of anticipation (hope) of experiencing the joy of being with this person who did these past great things, knowing they eagerly await being with us. In fact, that's why they did them, so we could one day be together. The joy of our anticipation is great because we value them and look forward to being with this person who did so much for us (even though we have never met each other). A future joy we are told, that is enhanced/ deepened by our faithfulness (obedience) to them in this present moment. 

We love God not only for past actions on our behalf, but also for the promise of future reward. A reward that is enhanced by faithfulness to them based on our trust in the love they showed us in the past. The reward of being with this one that values us so infinitely, they willingly experienced great loss and harm to themselves so they could be with us in the future and reunite us with their Father, who is the source of their love for us.

This is an anticipated benefit, not a present one. A gain assured to us by the promise of the giver and proven to us by their past acts of giving, not necessarily evidenced by the present experience of present gain/benefit. 

Who has loved us in this way, presently loves us and promises we are yet to see the full expression of that love in the future? Only one person, Jesus. 

When we have nothing else; no other proof of love other than these past actions and future promises, is this is enough? It is if and when we understand how greatly he values (love) us and how much he gave to prove it. Do you believe?

What about others who do not and can not love us in return? How do we treat them? 

We treat them with the same exact love Christ has shown us because he calls us to for his sake. He also promises he will honor us for our sacrificial love because we seek to honor him by loving as he loves. His love is sufficient to move us to love others even when their love in return (or lack of it) is not. 

So we love Christ for what he has done but also for what he will do (i.e. He promises He'll do in eternity). These alone are adequate to move us to faithfulness even if and when we see no immediate or present advantage in doing so.

Seeing God's love in our pain

"that I may know him (Christ) and the fellowship of his suffering's…" - Phil 3:10

What is the "fellowship" of Christ's sufferings that Paul desires to take part in - and we, by his example, are also invited to partake in? 

Whatever it is, we must participate in (experience) the "fellowship of his sufferings" to have a deeper understanding of Christ, i.e., who he is, what he did, and why he did it. This is directly connected to knowing him better, as indicated by the above opening comment "...that I may know him..."

What about our suffering? Does our suffering help us to see and know Christ better? How?

Stated simply, if we are to know and appreciate Christ more fully and the depth of His love, we must see and enter into Christ's suffering through our own, i.e. we share in (fellowship with) His pain through ours. The more we suffer the greater opportunity we have to understand and appreciate Christ's suffering.

But how are our pain and experiencing Christ's love connected?

Our pain helps us to more fully understand, appreciate, and sympathize with Christ's pain. The greater our pain, the greater our potential understanding of Christ's, i.e. we can relate to Christ's pain better because of our own. 

Whenever we are in pain, we should reflect on Christ's ³struggles and all the spiritual, emotional, and physical pain he went through for us. The more pain we experience the more deeply we can "enter into" and partake of His - if we choose to and let it.

The more we see and enter into His pain through our own, the more we can also see the depth of his love that moved Christ to suffer on our behalf. 

Seeing the depths of his love in turn causes us to love him more.  

If you wish to love him more, be grateful for your pain, if only because of how it can reveal to you Christ and the immense depth of His love for you more fully. How? By his embracing the pain you and I deserved - that He did not deserve - so we might see and experience His immense love even more.

To expand this further, the more we see His pain, (ultimately caused by us choosing to be our own "god" when we are not) the more fully and deeply we see the ¹greatness of His love that moved Him to embrace our pain (and the consequences of the pain we cause others) so He might free us from condemnation rightfully due us for the harm/pain we cause others. 

Grasping the depth of Christ's pain rarely happens without us first going through our own pain. The greater ²our pain, the more fully - and the greater the opportunity for us to appreciate ²His i.e. we are better able to understand and "fellowship" with Him in His sufferings through our own suffering, and thereby also more fully enter His love. 

Pain is a two-way street for both Christ and us

We are also reminded that because of his pain, he understands and appreciates ours better as well. He can better fellowship with us in our pain because of His own i.e. We are united with Christ in and through our mutual suffering. 

Amazingly, Christ chose to identify with us in this way! We will have this in common with Him throughout eternity and will be reminded of this - of His immense love for us - every time we look upon Him and behold the scars He carries and experienced for us.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:15-16

Pain can help produce two overriding positive outcomes if we let it. 

1. It can humble us by revealing the depths of our need and inability to cope with the pain alone, i.e., without God.

2. It can cause us to more fully appreciate the sufferings of Christ and the greatness of his love that moved him to suffer on our behalf.

These are two vital reasons we should never shrink back from pain and suffering, but instead be thankful for it. In doing so, this enables us to more fully see and take part in his great love.

If you want to know your level of trust in Christ and the strength of your love for Him, ask yourself how much pain are you willing to go through for His sake? 

This is a question Christ asked of himself while suffering for us, and he answered with a resounding "whatever it takes." His willingly going to the cross for you and me was the result of His saying yes to pain. 

How much pain am I willing to go through for His sake?... is a question we may wish to ask ourselves. One I ask myself often.     

Christ asked that question and answered by giving up his life, and allowing this to disrupt His eternal union with the Father. 

"“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.."

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here. 

The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/ grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job click here.

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¹When people question the goodness and love of God because of all the pain in the world (including their own) they miss the bigger picture and cannot see that Christ took on the pain of the world and let it kill him so he might ultimately free the world and us from it. Pain is not the final word regarding evil. Christ is!

 

The big question isn't why there is suffering and why God allows good people to suffer, but why God allowed Christ - the best and only perfect person - to suffer. 

And maybe a more important question... what is the Father saying to us and about us by allowing it? Hint...He loves us that much.

Until we answer these questions, we can never fully understand, accept, and willingly (gratefully) embrace our own pain and the world's pain. 

We are so jaded towards God that we forget that God so loved the world that he gave. The greatness of love is measured by the greatness of the gift and the sacrifice one is willing to make to give it, i.e. the more the gift costs, the greater the evidence of the givers love.

And what did God give? His very own Son (think of Abraham being asked and willing to sacrifice his son Isaac). The Son of his infinite and eternal affections. 

Christ's death was not barbaric; it was an expression of extreme love and a willingness to take on our suffering so we might be forever free from it... but only if we will accept His offer.

If we do not, there is no other solution!

The whole notion that the infinite and all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of everything would take on human form and even consider going through undeserved pain for our benefit is mind-boggling when we stop and reflect deeply on this. 

After reading this, I encourage you to do just that. Think deeply about these things often. Ask God to give you a fuller vision and understanding of His love for you through His and your pain. Let them seep deeply into your very being and transform you and your love for God. 

The Father and Son fully understand pain because they fully embraced and experienced it themselves. The Father embraced the pain of giving up the Son of His eternal affections and the Son embraced His greatest pain by allowing it to separate him from the eternal affection of His Father for a time. This "severing" of their relationship was a far greater pain than any physical suffering.

The only reason that people continue in pain after this life is that they refuse to see and receive God's remedy, which is Christ and all He suffered (willingly) at the hands of ungrateful and wicked men for our sake.

²Particularly for condemnation, persecution, and rejection.

³Has someone closest to you ever betrayed you? Have you ever had anyone twist your words, misrepresent you, speak ill of you, or not come through on their commitments or promises to you? Have you ever been unappreciated for sacrificial service to others? Have you ever had anybody forsake you in your greatest hour of need? Christ experienced these and far more with one big difference. He never complained and did nothing to deserve it. And He did all this for us so we wouldn't have to. And to also honor His Father. 

What makes us a distinct being/person?

Where do we begin and others end? What differentiates or distinguishes us from each other?

On the most obvious level, we each occupy our own physical space. We also each have our unique physical, emotional, intellectual, and creative attributes and skills. But is this all (or the main thing) that distinguishes us?

On a less obvious level, we also each have ¹our own understanding and will, i.e. we are our own unique, separate being/person. We each have our own unique perspective and experience. Though you and I may agree on what we think on any given subject, your thoughts and choices are not mine and mine are not yours. 

Having our own perspective and experience, however, is not saying reality is merely subjective. In fact, just the opposite. Even though we each experience the objective world differently, it is still an absolutely objective reality, i.e. we (as well as everything and everyone else) are who we (or they) are. We are not someone (or something) other than us. Everyone (or thing) outside us (or within us) is what it is and is not anything other than what it is, regardless of our individual experience of it.

Nevertheless, how we experience these objective realities is unique to us. If four people stand equally apart in a circle around a large oak tree - with varied and unique branches - when asked to describe the tree, will give a different description simply because of their individual vantage point/location. Yet it is exactly the same tree. 

Our experience is our own and no one else's i.e. No one will experience the very real and objective world in the same way you or I will because no one else is ²us, located in the exact same space or observing the world through our eyes (our vantage point). We are all unique with our individual vantage points, understanding, and will (ability to choose).

So two aspects distinguish persons or things. Physical location is one. You and I (or any other physical object) cannot be in the exact same location as another physical object (be that animate or inanimate). 

But for persons (rather than things) there is also a distinction between physical and non-physical. Not all persons are physical. God is not physical, but he is a very real person, just the same. What distinguishes him from other persons has nothing to do with physicality but has to do with having his own distinct understanding (thinking) and will (choosing). Again we may be in complete agreement with him but our thinking and choosing are ours, not his or vice versa. 

We can also see this distinction between the physical and nonphysical within ourselves. 

To illustrate, if we are somehow transported (i.e. have some "out of body" experience) and our nonphysical being somehow separates from our physical, the real us is the part that is aware of being out of our body

i.e. it is not the other way around where our bodies are aware of us, it is us that is aware of our body being "over there" somewhere separate from us. 

Those who claim to have had such an experience say they can see their body "left behind" so to speak. But their point of awareness is coming from them being somewhere outside and separate from their body. 

If these experiences are legitimate, this illustrates how the physical merely "houses" the essence of who we are, which is nonphysical. This is also how the Bible appears to characterize this. This also helps us to better understand how God is a person, yet has no physicality. 

So why do we humans experience our world differently from each other as well as from God? In a word we are limited (finite), God is not. Each of us is limited by location. This is simply saying we are not all-knowing, all-seeing, or everywhere present i.e. we locate only one place at a time and therefore have only ³one perspective at a time. Our understanding of what we observe is tied to that perspective at that time i.e. it is limited. 

God...the same but different.

We can not be like God physically, simply because God is not physical. So we are like God in a nonphysical way. God is a person with his own individual will and understanding. So in this way, we are the same as God. We too are persons with understanding and will just as he is i.e. We are in his image. Part of being in his image means we are a person because he is a person first. 

However, unlike God, we are finite. We are not everywhere present (part of why God can be everywhere present is precisely because he is not physical and therefore not limited to a specific location), all-knowing, all-willing, and all-able (all-powerful). 

God is infinite in every aspect of his person. God's understanding is absolute and complete because of his "allness." He is not confined to one location and knows and sees all. Nothing exists outside of his presence or is beyond His understanding. To use a crude analogy, He is the ultimate ⁴superhero if you will, without any limitations; he is everywhere present, sees all, knows all, and can do and does (sustains) all. Therefore his view and understanding of things and his ability (will) to carry out things are not partial but complete/absolute. Nothing (no one, no act, no thought) is hidden from his sight or understanding, whether it is past, present, or into the infinite future.

He is also all willing. No task is beyond his ability (power) to carry out, and nothing can thwart his ability to do so. Since He sustains everything, all that is or occurs is because he wills it to be so, i.e. He is all-powerful. Whatever He chooses to accomplish is carried out. Nothing can thwart his choice simply because he sustains all things and nothing is greater than he is. 

When I will something, it's coming to pass is contingent on my ability to bring it about. With God, there is no limit on his ability and therefore on his will. What he will's he does. Or to say it another way, it is done simply by his willing it. We get a hint of this in the creation account when it says, "and God said let there be... and it was so..." 

This, however, does not mean everything is God and God is everything because, at a minimum, nothing else has his understanding, will, or all-able (powerful) and is everywhere present.

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¹And, therefore, location as well. Wherever someone's understanding and will reside and issues forth from, another's can not reside in that exact same location/space.

²Even God himself, though he sustains everything, is a separate and distinct being.

³Which is why putting ourselves "in someone else's shoes" always helps increase our understanding of others; to see the world through their eyes, so to speak. Part of the maturing process involves stepping out of ourselves and taking on the perspective of others. The very fact we must do so further shows we are all unique and distinct, with a unique and separate vantage point. 

⁴Have you ever noticed that no superhero is everywhere present? Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men comic series came closest with his telepathic ability but even he was not simultaneously present to everything. It's also interesting to note, he was one of the most highly regarded of mutants because of his ability. 

the most valuable values us

Our value is reflected (indicated) by the value of the one who values us i.e. the value of the one who values us, says something about our value. 

For example, our being valued by our pet, that is totally dependent on us, is completely different - and far less significant - than being highly regarded (valued) by an extremely important, successful, well know and highly sought after leader of a high profile organization who needs nothing at all from us. The more influential this leader is, the more significant their regard for us is and becomes.

To say it another way, if the one who values us is of great value, doesn't that also say something very significant about our value? I would suggest, the more important or significant the one is who values us, the more significant our value must be.  

Now, what if the one who values us is the most valuable being in the universe? A being that all other things and beings are totally dependent on for their very existence and sustenance. And not only does this all-powerful and all-sufficient being value us, they value us to such an extent they actually gave up something they valued most so that we might have a relationship with them and share in all they are and have.

The more it costs someone to engage or take part in something, the more they value it. i.e. we are only willing to pay a high price for something we place a high value on. We simply would not be willing to give or sacrifice a lot for something we valued little. 

If the value of something is determined by the price paid for it, how valuable we must be in the eyes of God who gave up His infinitely cherished Son to have us. 

31  "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son (i.e. that which is most valuable to the Father) but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Rom 8

Joh 3:16  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (clung to), but (let it go and) made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."  Php 2:5-8

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich."  2Co 8:9  

For further discussions on our value click 

• Created for glory 

• Worthless, rotten sinners? 

• Does God value us? 

Thinking--->emotions-->willing

Is there a connection between our affections and our wills?

Yes. We choose (will) what affects us most (creates affection/desire) ; what most draws or allures us. What moves us to action (will) is what moves us emotionally (affectionately) first i.e. we are moved into action by our emotions.

Break down the word and consider its meaning. It consists of two parts. Emotion = e and motion.

Willing ourselves to act contrary to our desires wears us out and does not last long term.

What creates e-motions?

When we behold something beautiful and attractive, we are excited and drawn to it. We are moved (affected) to act/action. Likewise, when we see something unattractive, we are repelled. This too is movement to action but away from and not towards something.

What about our minds?

But isn't our mind involved also? Yes, what we think (believe) to be most valuable is most desirable and what we choose (will) to pursue.

However, what is truly desirable (objectively) and what we think is desirable (subjectively) are not necessarily one and the same.

What we think is desirable is only what we can see as desirable. If we are blind how can we see that which is truly most desirable?

Because we are spiritually dead we are also spiritually blind. Our problem is the greatest beauty lies beyond the physical and is found in the spiritual. A spiritually dead person can see nothing of the Spirit. God, who is Spirit, must reveal himself. 

How do we know God is beautiful? Do we have any indications?

Just look around you. There is great ugliness and pain in the world but there is also great beauty. Everything beautiful about creation comes from the Creator and reveals something of him. Likewise, everything destructive that disfigures creation comes from our rebellion to Him. The creation is in bondage due to that rebellion. 

How do we behold God, who is beautiful, clearly?

When we see him face-to-face. But that is not possible in our present state so now we behold him by faith or "through a glass darkly." We believe he is who he claims and promises to be.

How do we know God's promises are true?

He proved them to be true by his actions.

And what action did God take to prove he's truthful and most trustworthy?

Even after we rejected God, he chose to pursue us and disrupted his world of bliss, by stepping into our world of pain as a man, 

to pursue and embrace us in our brokenness and self-inflicted pain out of his infinite love,

allowing this to kill him so that he might deliver us and our world out of pain;

not because he needed to but simply because he is love and loves us that much.

The more clearly we see him (mind/belief), the more we value him and greater we desire him (affection/emotion) and choose (will) to passionately pursue him. 

Evil helps us to more appreciate good

Though evil directly is bad, indirectly it is good. To say it more precisely, evil is a means by which God brings about our good because it ¹can be the means by which we discover more of God, who is our ultimate good. 

But it does so indirectly, by being contrasted with good, i.e. our appreciation for good is enhanced by experiencing evil - the absence of good. Experiencing bad enables us to better appreciate its opposite. 

To illustrate, we often cannot fully ³appreciate a gift until we experience its absence. Someone who has their sight restored after going blind appreciates it more than the one who never lost it - or had it. Losing their sight was bad, but it became the means by which they experienced the greater good and a greater appreciation for it.

The appreciation of the goodness of God in eternity will no longer require the ¹presence of evil because we will experience the goodness of God unabated. At that time, that which evil is intended to help us see more fully will be fully seen and experienced - i.e. God in all his infinite goodness. We will no longer need help to see it (Him) because we will be in God's immediate presence and seeing it - He who is perfect love and goodness - fully. 

Pain is ²only experienced and needed now because we are still broken and in a broken world, in need of restoration. We therefore presently see through a glass darkly. But when we are in eternity, we will see Him face to face. At that time evil will no longer be present.

But we will have a reminder of the destructiveness of evil throughout eternity in the scars of Christ's hands, feet, and side.

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

For a discussion of how big is God click here

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¹However, pain will continue to exist for those who experience total separation from God and His creation. Though it will not be the personal experience of those who trust God's provision to restore us - i.e. Christ - it may be a continual reminder throughout eternity - to those who trust Him - of what we avoided.

Allowing the possibility of evil to occur meant there was a chance that some would not benefit from it. This was obviously a *"chance" God was willing to take because it also allowed those who turned from it to appreciate good all the more, i.e. What was gained by allowing evil was greater than what was lost. 

*Technically there are no chances with God. He knows everything that will happen before it does and all contingencies and outcomes. There are no surprises for God.

²Actually there is another reason. It is experienced simply as the natural consequence of pulling away from the source of life and love i.e. Our creator God.

³ Paramahansa Yogananda  (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk.  I used his quote not because I subscribe to Hinduism, but because it shows the wisdom of observing life as it is even if one's worldview is not rooted in scripture. I believe all truth is God's truth and from Him, whether it is in scripture or from the wisdom gained by observing and experiencing life. To say it another way, all scripture is true but truth is not only found in scripture. 

I am not certain we can say evil was created as the quote says. I'm inclined to believe Scripture teaches that evil was allowed not created - unless you wish to say that evil was "created" by the absence of good, i.e. that the absence of good brought to our awareness and experience the existence of evil, in a similar way that the absence of light makes us aware of the existence of darkness. In that sense, I would agree. But I'm willing to consider any "pushback" by those who disagree. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post. 

For a discussion on what happened at the rebellion of mankind in the Garden of Eden click here.

I would add this blog is titled "Thoughts about God" vs Thoughts from God. I do believe the thoughts I share on this blog are rooted in Scripture (which rightly understood are His thoughts i.e. His words) and in various degrees also stirred by His Spirit (at least that is my hope, desire, and intention) but I am merely a finite human trying to grasp and communicate the Infinite and in my attempt, no doubt I will fall very short.

Love at it's source

Love can only come from God's image bearers (you and I) in response to God's love for and to them first.

Though we have the capacity to *love, it is only a capacity. In other words we are able to receive or be loved and respond in love if and when loved by God but absent His love we are unable to give love i.e. we can not initiate love. Any true love we are able to give is only the fruit of being loved. We are not the Source, God is...love.

We were never designed or intended to be the source of love but rather recipients and responders to love that in turn can be conduits (vessels) of love.

And very good ones at that. In fact we alone, of all God's creatures, can consciously and deliberately respond to his love in a way no other of God's creatures/creation can. Though we are not hard wired to initiate love, we are hard wired to receive love, than respond back to God in love and also out to others with His love.

We will not (and can not) love others as God has designed us to (sacrificially), unless we first are loved (sacrificially) i.e. unless we are fully connected to God through Christ, the Source of love, life and all things.

Why? Simply stated, God is love, we are not.

But we are like God in that we can participate in the love that God is. We can enter into the union/fellowship of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit as image bearers of God.  But God alone is the source of love and life and all things. We are image bearers that participate in and reflect that love if and when we receive it.

If we are loving others as God loves us, it is only because we are *experiencing - by believing and trusting in - God's love for us first. We can only love others as God loves us, and will when we do.

If you are wondering if any of this is true, try giving sacrificially, none stop for an extended period and see what happens (such as parents of very young children or an infant). You won't last long. We must retreat to "recharge our batteries." The more we are engaged in sacrificial love and the more frequently we must recharge. We simply can not love without receiving it first to "fill our tank" or we will burn out.

Yes but...

Some may argue,"what about someone throwing themselves on a grenade to save others or a parent sacrificing themselves to save their child etc." First, this impulse is an expression of being in the image of God. We are designed not just to be loved but to give love. 

But note the order of the greatest commandment. We are called to love God first and than our neighbors. Why? Because true God inspired neighbor love flows out of God's love i.e. it comes from God. To say it another way, we would have no neighbor love if it wasn't for God, who is love i.e. it's hard wired into our spiritual/emotional DNA. 

So what is going on when someone who does not profess to know/trust in God, yet sacrifices themselves to save another? Because we are in God's image we can derive a sense of significance in giving up our lives for another. This is unlike God who demonstrates his significance in sacrificing himself [as the Son] for others. God is totally complete within himself as Father, Son and Spirit. We are complete only when in perfect union with Him. 

Without God driving our action, it is our need for significance that drives it i.e. doing a sacrificial act is an act of validating me, my significance, my importance, not honoring God i.e. it is not driven by a desire to honor God but to honor self; for self to be honored and praised by others. Though the very impulse we have to give our self for another comes from how we are wired by God, if we do not acknowledge and act for this reason (to honor God), at it's core, it is ultimately an act for ourselves no matter how much it is also for another. 

If we fully understood our ultimate demise in sacrificing ourselves this way without God being a deliberate and conscious part of the act - i.e. doing it for his honor - I propose we would not do the act i.e. we would not act if we knew our action would usher us into eternity resulting in our ultimate and eternal separation from God, His love and all good things. We act because we either believe our act will cause us to be remembered as a loving person or ultimately save ourselves by winning the favor of God (or Karma or whatever).

If we do not consciously and explicitly act for God's honor in our sacrifice, folks would likely say, "what a noble act and person" after our passing; they would not say, "what a great God they must worship for them to be willing to sacrificially give their life for the benefit of another" i.e. to not act for God's honor first and foremost brings praise and approval to ourselves, not to God.

So there are two parts to our truly loving others in the way God loves. 

1. Being like God. We act like him because we are like him...in his image -- which can happen with anyone, whether consciously connected to God or not.

2. Being loved by God **personally - which in turn empowers us to love others because He loves us. This happens only when we are fully and **deliberately connected to the source of love. 

It is the second part that distinguishes us from those who do not look to God for love and desire to honor God out of that love.
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*When referring to love I am not talking about the warm and fuzzy feelings we all experience when things go our way. This is getting love or being loved. I am talking about extending (giving) kindness, care, thoughtfulness even and especially when it costs us something i.e. sacrificial love. We are not willing nor can we give to others in this way unless we have first received the resources to love in this way i.e. we can not give what we do not have and we do not have God honoring sacrificial love unless we received it first. To love in this way, we must be "plugged in" to the bottomless, infinite source of love...and that isn't us.

**God values all his image bearers generally but unless we recognize our need for God, and deliberately trust in and receive his love we will not partake of it personally. We must turn to Him for this to occur.

#love  

God "needs" us?



Excerpt from my book "HOW WELL DO I KNOW GOD"

12. God by His own design and choice "needs us" in order to experience Himself fully again.

There is also another vital change that occurred within the person (not the essence) of God by His design and choice. He purposely disrupted that complete and perfect union and love within the Trinity - experienced from all eternity - in order to allow others to enter into and participate in that glorious community of Father and Son, in, by and through the Spirit. 

The significance of this is that presently not all who will enter in have yet done so. Until those God has designed to join in His union of love enter, the constant uninterrupted love He had from all eternity past is not at this present time fully complete in the same way it was prior to the incarnation. In some mysterious sense it will be  incomplete until all God has designed to enter into that community do so. 

Why? Since God chose to share His love with us God broke the circle of love within the Trinity as children in a circle might unlock hands to allow others to join in and play. The desire to open the circle and necessity to be fully united again wasn’t from need but choice; a choice to share the overflow of joy and fullness of Himself with us. He did this freely, but He also did this really and truly. This was not some symbolic gesture but a real severing of something vital within His very being. (Otherwise, why would Christ have cried out in agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”). Yes the Father and Son are reunited but the reason Son came and the Father sent Him is not finished yet. The sending of His Son was and is a real and true sacrifice by God the Father as well as God the Son. The very God of the universe gave up that which He valued above all things -- His Son and the uninterrupted union, fellowship and community of His Son from eternity past in, by and through the Spirit in order that we might share in what He had (yes, He loves us that much!!!). A union He will again have, but in some mysterious way doesn't presently have with *complete fullness (though the union of the Father and Son has certainly been restored). Until all those that God intends to join in do so, His love is some inexplicable way will not be *totally complete and whole again in the same way it was before the creation and the fall of man and will be once again throughout eternity. In short, there is an element added by God Himself that is **not yet fully complete because it now includes those He has set His love on, who are not yet fully participating in that love in the way the Father and Son are. This union is presently incomplete - not just for us but also for God in some way - until all those He has set His love on have joined hands, so to speak, to reunite and complete that circle again. This is simply an extension of the loss God was and is willing to experience so that others might participate in the very Being of God in His endless love.

It may be argued that to ensure this complete reuniting of the Godhead again there had to be a certainty of it occurring. Something of such magnitude and so fundamental to God’s being would not be left to chance. The surety of God’s “reunion” could only be guaranteed if it was determined that all who were intended to enter into the community of God would, in fact, do so while at the same time giving those creatures real choice. This is an infinite concept of which the finite, you and I, cannot now fully grasp. A mystery of man's choice and God's choosing, which we will not understand until eternity or possibly may never fully understand.

But even in our finite understanding, there is God's design and a reminder that we are not God or entirely independent of God. These things humble us and require us to trust God in a way we wouldn't if we comprehended all things. And isn't this the heart of fallen humanity's dilemma? Isn't this the essence of pride and unbelief and even in part explains why He does not tell us everything? With every fiber of his being, fallen humanity resists having to be dependent on and totally, unconditionally trust God in all areas including our understanding of His ways.  In truth, the thought of not fully understanding these things scares us for it requires us to trust instead of control.

So there is a sense in which God presently acts out of need, but it is not a need for us but a need for Himself (you may wish to review my earlier section on God's "dependence" on himself). What makes God independent is the interdependence of the Trinity. And it is the perfect giving and receiving of value/worth/glory within the Trinity that gives God the greatest joy and pleasure. But by His choice and design, He has temporarily disrupted that inter-dependence along with the complete fullness of the love and joy of it in order to allow others to share in it. And by our sharing in it we reflect back to God that love and glory that originates within Him alone. God was simply so happy, joyful, and full of love, that He longed for others to know and experience what He had been experiencing within the Godhead from all eternity. The overflowing joy, love, and delight of beholding and delighting in the glory of each other within His triune being. As a result, He was willing to set aside for a time, the completeness of it so others could enter into it. Sacrifice became an inherent part of God's makeup through the incarnation of Christ. Now, the reuniting and the fullness of the flow of God’s love again - by His choice and design - require our union with Him. So by His design i.e. His self imposed choice we are now a part of His experiencing Himself fully and perfectly again. The end result is not just our rejoicing in God's perfect and complete love but in His rejoicing in it again (“Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began) and our rejoicing in it along with Him. This will be the ongoing celebration throughout eternity beginning at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

The wonder of God’s perfect plan is truly beyond our understanding. Praise Him for He is full of wonder! To Him be all worth and majesty both now and for all eternity, for from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory!

In summary, when we think about how God made us exactly as we are so we would best be able to commune with Him; to love Him and to be loved by Him most, we had to be like Him as much as possible while at the same time still dependent creatures. And the way man turned out from the creation to the fall to procreation and our present state of rebellion (a choice) with all the suffering and pain it has caused is all part of God’s perfect overall plan to bring about our greatest possible union with Him and His greatest possible glory. This is God’s plan; that we might know and experience Him as He experiences Himself as much as possible for created beings to do so. In order for that to occur, I would suggest every aspect of how things have occurred and will occur is the deliberate design of God toward that end. Nothing is an accident or by chance, but deliberate and purposeful. Every aspect of how we were created, our ability to doubt God, to rebel, fall, and the consequent suffering to mankind and the rest of creation were all necessary and intentional, to satisfy this overriding purpose for our existence, which is for as many as possible to be conformed to the image of His Son as much as possible in order that we come to know and experience all that God is to the greatest extent possible thereby glorifying Him. In short man’s rebellion and fall along with the consequent pain and suffering and God’s redemption of man was not God’s backup plan to a messed up original plan but was the original plan from eternity past in order for God to achieve this end. All things occur in order for us to enjoy and appreciate God in all His love, joy, splendor and glory to the greatest degree possible. Of course, this is only the reasoning and speculation of a finite mind within the boundaries of scripture and no doubt falls far short of grasping the fullness of one of the greatest mysteries of God.

*Or possibly God is fully in union now but will experience it in a greater way by our being united with Him in quantity as well as quality. 

**It could be argued that since the complete number of those who will eventually join in this union is already decided, the union is actually complete as far as God is concerned i.e. in His mind, however, just as something real in time occurred in the incarnation of Christ (though already complete in the mind of God) so too, those coming to Christ who have not yet come is a real occurrence as well. Since we are touching the fringe of the garments of the infinite; these thoughts are only a feeble attempt by finite minds to grasp the infinite within the boundaries of scripture. We not claim perfect understanding by any means, but we can seek to reason within the boundaries of scripture and attempting to grasp what we may never fully understand. But in doing so we must hold to these things lightly i.e. not dogmatically. And that is ok. The need to make everything work out logically may have more to do with pride than a necessity in order to be true i.e. we can not rule it out as true because we can not make it work out logically.

Why explore things that are only inferred in scripture and not stated explicitly? Because some explicit statements and teachings appear to contradict other explicit statements. For example, there is no evil in God yet God knows good and evil. Also, Christ is fully man yet fully God and God are one in essence yet three distinct beings. What do we do with these paradoxes and seeming contradictions? We should not ignore them because we can not fully make sense of them but attempt to see how they might work and fit together and what, if any, benefit can be gained in doing so.

Some may feel this is fruitless. I would suggest the opposite. Click here for a discussion of the value of paradox.