“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” (John 15:9 NAS95)
Home. Where do I feel safe, accepted, embraced and relaxed? Where do I share my experience of life and its challenges?
God has me in an interesting space of growing awareness. He helped me understand the Kingdom of God points to His presence with me. Later, I noticed, or rather took seriously the meaning of omnipresence, an attribute we ascribe to God who is everywhere. This pondering didn’t cease but matured.
He accented the statement “God is love.” I say accented because, well, not only does this concept of God frequently recur, He’s deepening how I think about Him, His person and character. Later, I got caught up in realizing I don’t define love, nor do I know what love actually is, but God defines love.
Oops. I need to do some remedial learning. I had always thought I knew how to love. My way of loving, or at least when I pondered it from the inside-out always had some reward for me in it at the center of my motivation. Jesus showed me a kind of love He expressed without any reward expected in return. He gave. And He gave for my benefit, for my flourishing, advocating for the best life possible.
Not me.
Transformation needed!
In this long-in-coming shift arrived the idea that I actually dwell in this kind of love because God defines love. Personal, real, present, felt, and interactive with me. Then I noticed a growing familiarity, a noticing of the level of kindness, goodness, and peace in my interactions with God. The experience of God leading, guiding, forming and shaping me had a distinct recognizable character.
I noticed perceiving God as love transformed how I understood my circumstances. I could enter God’s invitation to trust even in situations or happenings I did not like and did not want. Pausing, opening to God’s presence, abiding in Him as love, allowed me to endure or persevere. I gained confidence that He advocates for a fuller enjoyment of life by loosening my devotion to self-centeredness. (Read: after I’d endured circumstances I thought might kill me).
Abiding in His love requires shifting the way I see God. The way I see my circumstances. I realized over time that God works to make me fit, by His grace and power, for the eternal community of Trinitarian love. I feel safe, accepted, relaxed, and welcomed in the family. Home.
For Reflection
“Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalm 85:10 NAS95)
- How do you imagine perceiving God as love might transform how you understand or interpret life?
- What spiritual practices help you cultivate attentiveness to God as love so that you can enjoy peace in any circumstance?
