God Is Love, But Love Is Not God

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. [Luke 14.25-27]

Modern society has effectively made love a god - an idol. In so doing, all manner of illegitimate relationships have become the norm. While it is easy for "good Christian people" to be shocked by the alternative lifestyles of this present age, few see and understand that they have just as illegitimate relationships in their own lives! When love becomes the end goal, then it has become a god - whether that love is for a child, a gay lover, or even a pet. Period. God is love, but love is not God.

How do we know when love has become a god? We know love has become a god when loving "father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - and yes, even our own lives" becomes more important than taking up our cross to follow Jesus. God is love, but love is not God.

The 'self' relationship of the paragraph above is really the problem. Our overly-elevated relationship with 'self' lies at the core of every other illegitimate relationship in our lives. This is proven in part every day right before our eyes in the busyness most people are involved in relative to all the relationships in their lives. While on the surface, their busyness with activities appears to be a sacrifice of pure love giving the busy love-er the personal satisfaction of fulfillment However, beneath that busyness lies buried an under-prioritized relationship with God. So, the personal fulfillment of being head-over-heels in love with someone (father, mother, wife, children, brother or sister) showcases misplaced devotion to them for self-fulfillment thus sacrificing relationship with God Who demands He is to be FIRST. God is love, but love is not God.

Consequently then, the desire to live and not die becomes the result of self-love. All the devices of man (idols), designed to improve and preserve life, become the very trap that puts a frantic stranglehold on what should be a person's number one priority: an unharried relationship with God. Pursuit of these idols all point back to misplaced love of others and, ultimately a misplaced love of self. God is love, but love is not God.

While the human goal of "living, loving, and laughing" sounds like a noble pursuit, it is not the pursuit Jesus called us to! Jesus clearly told us to seek God first (Matthew 6.33). Jesus clearly told us in the passage above to be on alert for and guard against illegitimate relationships! God is love, but love is not God.

Contrary to popular opinion, loving others to fulfill a need in ourselves is critically different than loving others as an extension of God's love through us for them. It is not ironic that Jesus used the cross in His explanation above. The love OF God will die for others. Love AS god uses others for the personal satisfaction of loving and being loved. We must understand the difference. This is what Jesus was conveying in the passage above. God is love, but love is not God.

If we love others for what we get out of it, then love has become our god. But if instead we love others because God's love flows through us for them (what we give) even to the point of death (taking up our cross), then God, Who is love, is truly our God. God is love, but love is not God.

Interestingly enough, God's love was simply the motivation behind His GIVING His Son! That love, without expectation, but in hope, gave with nothing guaranteed in return as Jesus laid Himself down on the Cross. God is love, but love is not God.

In conclusion, we don't need to learn to love. Instead, we need to learn to give ourselves to God in relationship with Him so that His love, without expectation, but in hope, will naturally flow through us. How can we know when it is God's love and not our own (for our own fulfillment)? Because His love gives with absolutely nothing guaranteed in return (nothing in it for MY-self)!

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. [John 15.13]

Father, help us see today that pure love is love that "gives" without expectation (even to the point of death). Any other version of love that expects to "get" has become a god unto us - an idol in our lives.