…the love God has for us

I like the verse: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”– 1 John 4:16  We did a little devo with the kids one morning and had them draw pictures of what they think it means that “God is Love.” Really cute (and very pure, spiritual) ideas. Reminds me that the Kingdom of God belongs to the little ones. For them, there’s a simplicity to it all, untainted by years of experience with people, struggles with trust, broken hearts, disappointments, and hurt feelings. There’s just a young heart and an eager mind. So they draw “God is love” and it is just hearts, and crosses, and people. It’s simple. Simple love.

There’s not a lot of theology needed for this verse. I found myself trying to explain it to them at first, asking them, “Now how do you think it’s possible to live in God and at the same time He lives in you?” There it was. A paradox for sure. If I were talking to an adult we’d likely have engaged in some deep conversation. But something insightful sprang to life as I attempted to explain it to a five year old. I mumbled it out at first. “We don’t know what it means exactly but what we can be sure of is this,”  I said, and then with a little more energy continued. “There’s love, there’s us living in love. God is love so we’re living in him. It’s a great big swirl,” I continued, now excited, and with my hands making big whoshes in the air. “Yeah, a great big swirl of love and God and us; and we’re in love and his love’s in us and we’re loving, and you’re loving, and we love God and he loves us, and … well, love love love.”

Thank God for times that we have to try and explain God’s love to a five year old. That’s when we see something new ourselves.

We “rely” on the love God has for us, not because we can understand it or explain it, but because we feel that it’s true, because God has proven to us that it’s true, and that only this great and powerful – and simple – love can change the world, starting with the little corner of it where we live.