One of the things I love about the internet is that I get to benefit from so many great preachers and great sermons. On the drive today I am going back and listening to sermons at my church from the years before I was there. I was listening to one from my pastor and friend Matt Carter. He talked about a book by Chris Tomlin and a line that impacted him, “A love like that can change a boy.” He then went on to talk about how love changes us, and what kind of love can truly change us. An earthly love can change our actions and maybe even our heart but only God’s love can change our identity. So I’ve been thinking on why that is. I believe it is because God’s love IS an identity. Therefore, His act of loving us identifies us. His love changes our identity because He is a definer. His loving us changes us from who we were into His beloved. And God’s love is an identity. 1 John 4:16a says, “God is love.” I have always interpreted this as God is loving, that what He does fits in the category of “loving”. That love is His identity. But as I’ve thought on it more over the years, I’m starting to think it might be the reverse. I think God is the definer. I think He is not landing in the category of “loving” but His actions are defining the category of “loving.” I think God is love’s identity. Who He is defines what love is. Therefore, God’s love can change our identity because it is the fullness of God, with all the power of God contained therein. His love defines us.
This is what I think about driving down the highway. I’d love to hear what this stirs in you.
Thoughts?
Todd
JESUS = THE ReDeifiner
I do believe that God is loves identity and HE shows us the meaning through HIS actions. I do believe that God’s love can change our identity. Less than a year ago, HE changed my identity. I listened to Z100, 95.5 WPLJ, KTU, (NY stations), but one day out of nowhere, it came to me to put on STAR 99.1 with Johnny Stone. I loved so much what I heard and from that day, I never went back to the stations I listened to before. Just from listening to what I have heard on the radio, I moved closer to God. I pray different than before. I understand God’s word better than before. I feel closer to HIM than I ever have. Every sunday during church, I feel tears in my eyes because I can feel God with me. HIS presence so close to me as I pray. That happened to me today. I try to keep the tears in my eyes though. I love God so much, HE is all I need. As I look now, I believe God wanted me closer to HIM and pulled me closer. I’m a different person all around. I believe God changed my radio station for me. God helped me find you. I love listening to your music. The first song I heard of yours was, Grace Like Rain. I love that song so much. Thank you for all that you do. May God bless you……always!!!!
When I had my first child, I thought I understood what love was. It was like nothing else I had ever experienced. Here is this little tiny human being that needed me for everything. Her survival depended completely on me. She looked to me for physical nourishment. She needed me for emotional support. She needed me to teach her to walk and talk and interact with the world. Her complete dependence on me, stirred a protectiveness and caring that I had never known before.
Then when I was pregnant with my second child, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough love. It seemed like I had given everything I had in me to the first one and wasn’t sure where more love would come from. Of course the love flowed freely to the second child and the third child. There was no degree of love. It was natural and honest and poured from me without hesitation. I love each of them the same and I love them differently at the same time. It is really difficult to explain. I would give everything I have to protect each of them, including my life.
As I move through the seasons of my life, I see love differently. As God draws me closer and my understanding of his love and sacrifice come into a more clear focus, I can see that as his love has grown in me, and my love towards others has magnified. I believe you are right that God is love’s identity. My earthly father had difficulty loving others because the love that he was shown throughout his life left him lacking. With his love as an example, it was difficult to love without seeking love in return. I spent a lot of time trying to earn his love and the love of others. Not so with God’s love. While he wants a relationship with me and wants me to love him in return, he doesn’t need that at all to love me. He can, and has loved me all of my life without condition. He knew me before I was and loved me from the beginning of time.
I pray for God’s love to manifest in me. I pray for God’s identity to be clear in me. I pray for others to see God’s love in me and to feel God’s love radiate from me.
God Is love. He is the only being who can affirm to each individual that they are beloved, uniqely known, accepted and wanted.
correction of my name. God was the first word of my sentence not my name.
God Is Love. He is the only being who can enable each individual to become aware that they are beloved without jealousy, fear, inadequacy or comparison.
Yes! You’ve got it! “God is love’s identity. His love defines us.” Knowing that has changed everything for me. It impacts the way I see myself, but also in the way I see other people. I can see aspects of God’s love in my child who love me unconditionally, in my dearest friend who reminds me that I am lovable, and in the sacrificial love that freely flows from my heart to them. It is His love in other people that draws me to them like a magnet. Brennan Manning writes, “Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence. It is not merely a lofty thought. It is the name by which God knows us, and the way He relates to us (Revelation 2:17).” I love that identity–it can’t ever be taken away regardless of what I do or what other people say about me. Awesome!
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