"Love is Love"?
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?” (Numbers 23:19)
My wife frequently gets behind a vehicle in the carpool lane that has a bumper sticker which states, “Love is Love”. It is a statement based on a set of assumptions that run contrary to scripture. It is a feeling-driven, non-Christian worldview, signaling essentially that anything goes, provided that the feelings are mutual. We have a decal on our van that portrays a Biblical message: “God is Love”. This short message may convey different things to different people, but we hope that it will spark conversations, preferably with us!
Twice in 1 John 4 we’re told that “God is Love”. This means that it is according to God’s nature to love His creation, while it is in our sinful nature to react against that love. We’d rather choose our own way, making ourselves gods. Yet God, in His benevolent love, gives us far more than any of us deserve, a love that is deserving of our thanksgiving toward Him (Romans 1:21).
Though there are different kinds of love in the Bible, but the primary one assumed is from the root “Agapao”, which communicates the kind of love God has for us and seeks what is best for us. It is based on objectives truths about life and death, Heaven and Hell! It is “not self-seeking” (1 Corinthians 13:5), but is predominantly others-centered, as far as it pertains to us. If “God is Love”, then it means that He will do what is best for the objects of this special covenantal love, which includes a preservation of His own, to the end! In this description of Jesus as our “Great High Priest” in Hebrews 7:25, He even serves as an intermediary before God the Father, guaranteeing our salvation: “He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
Speaking of love, we dare not operate under the world’s definitions of it. We can’t assume that people of the world understand Biblical categories when we speak the Gospel, therefore a vigilant cultivation of Biblical truth may need to be developed. They may say, “Doesn’t God love everyone the same?” “Why would God punish someone if they were born that way?” These statements are assuming the world’s categories. Why would Jesus say, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."?(John 13:35) The Son of God is implying that the kind of love we show one another is not like the kind the world fully understands! When they see a consistent, selfless love that we exhibit freely, they will, according to Jesus, make the connection between us and Him!
There are even “loves” that are forbidden for us. 1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” This “world” is describing the system in the world run by the “Prince of this world”, namely Satan (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11). He has infected the world with doubts regarding God’s goodness, just like he did in the garden with Eve. He is at the core of this system that brings about Anti-Semitic “Protests” on our university campuses.
If we now know that “our battle is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12), but against an entire spiritual domain, how are we to move forward against this system of the world? We must first keep in mind that godless people are not the enemy! We do battle with weapons far greater than guns and bombs; we do battle with the Truth of the Gospel, by which God saves people eternally! We start by protecting ourselves with “spiritual armor”, and “praying in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:13-18)!
We also begin with the recognition of our powerful, unchanging God (from Numbers 23:19 above), also: Malachi 3:6, “I the LORD do not change.” & James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” This “immutability” of God means that He is able to accomplish great and mighty things that bring Him Glory, and it has been His Plan from the beginning to work through His Church (Eph 1:22-23, 3:10-11).
We approach others, bearing in mind that we are speaking a spiritual language to secular people. It is clear that we are often operating off of different definitions – Our world has gotten so far off Biblical categories that it is like going back to Kindergarten with them in these Biblical truths. Hollywood’s view of “Love” is so far off that it not only dwells in the sensual, but is rapidly seeking to incorporate the detestable things, even for the purpose of grooming young children into its mold. To them as well we “speak the Truth in love” (Eph 4:15), trusting that God will break through and save some.
We pray for Revival in our land, but even that is not enough. Like the “Jesus Movement” of 50 years ago, it left a trail of spiritual babies in its wake. We need a Reformation from top to bottom, led by the Spirit of God, with men and women in the Church on the front lines! It is Christ or Chaos! Who will we follow?
