Do you remember the first crush you had as a little kid? My four year old grandson has a crush on a little girl in his preschool class. It is a time in our lives when we are captivated by beauty. For a boy of four, it is something that stirs this little guys heart that causes him to want to please the one of his affection. Granted, this first love experience may not happen at four, but we are wired for love, after all. Are we not made in the image of God? We still retain certain aspects of the nature God which he designed Adam with. We are made just like Him having the aspects of the nature of “Love” like Himself, though marred.
The title of this article may seem shocking to some and to others it may resonate with your heart. My reason for describing God in this way is because all to often God feels distant to many of us, due in part to our lack of understanding. We haven’t allowed ourselves to picture God as a lover, let alone a Savior. When we hear or read of Him as a Savior, we often embrace it as fact and not any deeper.
At the end of his life, the apostle John wrote what he felt the church was deficient on, namely who God is and how that should translate into us being changed by Him. Take the following verse is 1 John 4:
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. [8] The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
John pens the very essence of God’s nature is love and that if we become born again, we will be motivated by the same characteristic and nature of love. Today, Christians talk a lot about being saved by “Grace”, without any thought concerning whether we act like God himself. There is the notion that we should love others, but never the thought that if the action of love is not part of our being, we might not be born again. Being born from above implies a new nature with great capacity to love and be loved.
Charles Wesley and his brother John Wesley, turned the world upside down in the 1700’s, when they became born again. Being educated in England to become ministers, they trailed to America to convert the American Indians and found themselves miserable failures. Traveling home to England, they met some Moravians, a sect of Christians that seemed to have a totally different understanding of faith. During the voyage home, the ship was caught in a storm that everyone expected to perish in. John and Charles questioned the Moravians reason why they were not afraid of perishing, and they discovered what it meant to be truly born again. These Moravians were not afraid, but rejoicing in the God they had come to trust.
Not long after landing back in England, and after much dialog, Charles yielded his life to Christ at the age of 34 and was born again. A short time later he wrote one of the greatest hymns of his life called “Jesus, Lover of my Soul.” He had come to the knowledge of God being a lover and not just a creator. Out of the overflow of his relationship with God, he wrote 6,ooo hymns, which is amazing considered this was with pen and ink and no computers!
King David was probably one of the most passionate writers of the Old Testament, writing such Psalms that describe a hunger and desire to be in God’s presence and to be intimate with God. His Psalms reflect a man who not only knows about God, but is intimately acquainted with him. Truly, David had a love affair with the Lord.
Palms 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
Palms 4:7 You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound.
Palms 5:7 But as for me, by Your abundant loving-kindness I will enter Your house,
At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.
Palms 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
John Eldridge, wrote in his book, “Fathered by God”, that men have a much more difficult time relating to God as a lover, and often are insecure in thinking of God with such emotion and passion, yet John the Baptist spoke about Jesus relating to followers as a “Bride” and he the bridegroom.
John 3:27-29
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.
The apostle John wrote in the book of Revelation about the “Marriage Supper” of the lamb concerning Jesus and the church. If this is God’s way of wanting to relate to us shouldn’t we respond differently?
Revelation 19:7-9
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” 8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright andclean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.”
Scripture gives us a window into understanding the heart and mind of God for the purpose of “Oneness”. Jesus spoke so much, especially near the time of the crucifixion, of his and the Father’s desire to be one with us. Is that not the picture of a husband and wife? In the Old Testament so much is written about God’s heart being wounded over Israel’s betrayal running after other gods, to the point where God again scribes Israel as a wife gone astray.
Questions:
- Have you ever thought of God as your husband or lover? This intimacy is offered throughout the word.
- Has your relationship moved from one of respect to one of desire like David’s – your heart fainting for the presence of the Lord? John 17:3 Talks about God’s desire to have an intimate fellowship with you.
May the Lord open our eyes to the scriptures truth about His love for us.
Pastor Dale
In doing a Bible study using the book, “Multiply” by Francis Chan, we learned that what God is looking for from us is a relationship. Love always seeks relationship with the object of love. We are the object of His love. (John 3:16) Thanks for reminding us that God is all about a love relationship with us. He desired that relationship so much that He gave His Son to make it possible.
Hi Keith
For many the idea of God being a lover is so foreign concept and often misconstrued as a sexual thing. If people would consider what others have done for love sake and especially what Christ has done becoming a man we should not be shocked at the term “Lover”. Satan wants us to be rebels without a cause to coin a phrase, and at least making children of God stay children rather than passionate followers of God.