God is So Much More than Love<\/strong><\/em> \u201cGod is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>( 1 John 4:16<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been having trouble sleeping lately (big surprise). When that happens, I usually pass the night trying to pray through questions I have about faith and life, and lately I\u2019ve been praying about love. You see, I have known great love, intimately, purposely, lavished on me with unwavering determination for 30 years, three months, and three days. Then, too soon, came the day when cancer took my wife\u2019s body, set her spirit free, and left me behind sleepless and alone. Now, more than a year after hearing the hum of Amy\u2019s last breath, I keep wondering why the pain of losing this love (at least here on this earth) has kept such a stranglehold on me for so long after she has died.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve thought about it a lot, and read about love and the meanings of love. I\u2019ve also studied the Greek terms for love, especially the Greek word agap\u0113\u00a0<\/em>which is supposed to be the highest expression of love\u2014a pure, selfless, unconditional thing. But as I meditate on the love I\u2019ve experienced, examining how it shaped and reshaped me, even agap\u0113 seems not enough to explain it.<\/p>\n I know that Amy\u2019s love for me was rooted in the truth that \u201cGod is love\u201d\u2014something the Apostle John taught us both ( 1 John 4:16<\/a><\/strong>). If that\u2019s really true, then love encompasses more than just the highest expression of selflessness. Inherent in Christ\u2019s personhood is every shade and texture and breath and aspect and heartbeat and death knell and meaning of whatever love is. This is probably why\u00a0 1 Corinthians 13<\/a><\/strong> describes love (and by extension God) with a laundry list of concepts:\u00a0\u201c<\/em>Love is patient<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, love is kind. It does not envy<\/a>, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/em>This is also why, within each of us, the presence of God (who is love) naturally expresses itself in\u00a0\u201clove, joy, peace<\/a>, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control\u201d<\/em> ( Galatians 5:22-23<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n So if God is love, and God is all these things, then love is all these things, which makes it more than simply agap\u0113<\/em>. His love is not just the highest form of love, it is ALL of love\u2014love that laughs, that rests, that waits and forgives and so much more.<\/p>\n Even love defined as all of love is not adequate to explain the kind of love I\u2019ve experienced, both from Amy and from our Christ. And here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n Language at its core is a collection of symbols that society agrees will represent reality. Our words for love are, at best then, tokens of meaning, not exact expressions of substance. We cram letters together and say \u201cthis is what those letters mean\u201d but symbols alone can never fully communicate the truth of what they represent.<\/p>\n L-o-v-e is not just what we\u2019ve all agreed that those letters should define. It is unfathomably, immeasurably, inexpressibly more. We know it instinctively, deep within the soul, but we can never adequately define or even understand it.<\/p>\n And so tonight, while I can\u2019t sleep, I look at \u00a0 1 John 4:16<\/a><\/strong> (\u201cGod is love\u201d) and no longer see just a definition of God or love or agap\u0113\u00a0<\/em>to catalog and quote with casual indifference. Those three words, those simple alphabetical symbols have now become for me a moment of awe\u2026 a reason to worship\u2026 an unbreakable promise that the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n![\"Your](\"https:\/\/media.swncdn.com\/via\/22477-your-daily-bible-verse-800x200-1.png\")
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By Mike Nappa<\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/media.swncdn.com\/via\/8212-1-john-4-16-sq.jpg\")
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