“Wondering”. . .Fascinated By God, and By His Truth

(Friends: during this series, the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter.  Thanks for your patience, and I think you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk with the Lord.  Glen)

  

Part 10 – “Essence”

     If pressed to provide the most elemental answer to the question, “Who Is God?”, I would immediately answer that God, in the essence of His character, nature and way, is love.  The Apostle John confirms:

    “God is love” (I John 4:8; 16).

   Of course, there many other things that comprise the person of God , as defined by Scripture.  Righteousness, wisdom, holiness, grace, mercy, justice, compassion and understanding, among many other qualities, all comprise our Lord’s winsome being.  At the heart of all, however, and as the heart of all, love motivates and guides everything God does, has done, or ever will do.

    We know this because the two primary commands of Scripture, directed toward the race of beings created in His image, reveal that love is the motivation and purpose of true personhood.

     “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).

     When God exhibits wisdom, grace, holiness and even hatred or wrath, all proceed from the love that forms the essence of His character, nature and way.  Indeed, love is the “Who?” of God.  Everything He does expresses this wonder of who He most deeply is.  Our Creator exists in a triune glory of pristine goodness and unselfish devotion to others, even as the Apostle Paul declared that the love of God seeks not its own interests, but those of others (I Corinthians 13:5). 

    Paul also referenced “the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19).  A long eternity will not suffice in fully discovering the sublime wonder of the God in whom no trace of selfishness or self-centeredness exists.  However, we will seek to scratch a molecule of paint from the surface of such goodness in this week’s considerations, considering love to be the primary answer to the question of God’s “Who?”  May His Spirit lead us as we consider together the essence of our Lord’s heart, mind, being, and way.

“The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many… He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”

(Matthew 20:28; John 14:9)