I have been thinking about the love of God, getting ready to speak on these famous words: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). When we think of God’s love, it is natural to think that his love is like ours, although bigger and better. Indeed it is; but there is also a crucial difference between his love and ours.
This will sound somewhat nerdy, but I was listening to a lecture on Martin Luther in the car this week. The lecturer was recounting what happened at the so-called Heidelberg Disputation of 1518, when Martin Luther got to present his views in public debate. The last of his 28 theses says this: “The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it. The love of man comes into being through that which is pleasing to it.” In other words, our human love is a response to finding something lovely – lover, a newborn baby, a delicious meal, a beautiful sunset, or whatever. God’s love, on the other hand, does not discover that something is lovely; it makes things lovely. That is grace.
He further explains that “the love of God which lives in man loves sinners, evil persons, fools, and weaklings in order to make them righteous, good, wise, and strong. Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good. Therefore sinners are ‘attractive’ because they are loved; they are not loved because they are ‘attractive’”. Now that really is good news.