Not Loving

Not Loving
Words of Faith 6-4-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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1 John 4
[16b] God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. [17] In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

This is Love Week in 1 John, but there is a startling message here. God is not loving. Seriously? Sounds harsh. Almost heretical. But I checked the texts through one of those miracles of the computer age. I checked the KJV, NIV, NRSV, NJB, NKJV, NAB, NASV, Living, and Message Bibles. Guess what? None of them have the phrase "God is loving." But all of them have the phrase, God is love. The Bible never says that God is loving.
So what's the difference? Just silly semantics? Well, if we say God is "loving," then we will attempt to attribute to God a quality we have defined by our own experience. We have a pretty good idea of what we think "loving" is like. We may try to shape "God" into this image of "loving" and create a picture of how God should behave. The problem comes when we encounter a situation in which God has allowed or caused something in our life that does not fit that definition. We then suddenly conclude in exasperation, "God is NOT loving!" Or we declare, "That is not MY God'." We have a crisis.
John tells us plainly that God does not have to live up to ANY earthly definition or description of what is "loving." God IS the definition. God IS love. God is the benchmark against which all so-called love is measured. God settled once and for all His love for us on a cross at Calvary. THAT God loves us is never in question because God is love, and He demonstrated that love toward us while we were still sinners by dying for us. Even when the Bible speaks of the "lovingkindness of God, it says, "Thy lovingkindness is better than life..." Lovingkindness is HIS to define, not to be defined by life.
Does that mean we will always understand His love or His ways? Not likely. God declares in Isaiah 55:8‑9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." I can understand that principle in a simple way when I love my children in ways they do NOT understand to be "loving."
How much greater is His love for us? There will be things that I will not understand. Some things will not seem "loving" by my definition. But God is love. I must never forget that.
So, for today, don't look for God to "be loving." Don't even talk about a "Loving God"... because people will not understand. Just get to know God, who IS love, a little better.

Lord God of all the universe. I do not understand all that goes on around me but I put my trust in You. You are the definition of love, not this world. Forgive me for ever questioning that. I desire to get to know You better today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.