Paraphrase/Modification of 1st Corinthians 13:4
" 4 God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. 5 God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. 6 God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
What concept of God do we have? What do we think about when we think of God?
I know that for myself, my concept of God came from the Old Testament stories. God was a burning bush, a frightful and awe-inpiring Father of Heaven, The Great IAM, the Alpha and Omega. Now I also realize that my picture of God was also of an old man with a long white beard who reigned on a golden throne surrounded by angels.
In this country, I would bet that that is fairly close to many people's vision or concept of God. Yet, that model (The Great Father/Creator) has with it it's own limitations.
If our concept of God is based on a father figure, then the same limitations that are in our own family relationships are defacto in our relationship with God. Even a perfect father figure we can only imagine to the point that we have felt a father who has given unconditional love, unconditional support. All fathers, or parents in general, cannot live up to that ideal. So when we have felt conditional love from a parent, it shapes that relationship with God (using that Father/Creator model). Every dashed hope, conditional behavior, restriction or discipline we felt growing up is always in the back of our minds then when we relate to God.
For those people who did not have good parents, or parents at all, the problem becomes even more insideous. God then becomes a punishing or withholding God because that is our experience with our earthly parents.
At some point, this model of Father/Creator, must change or we will be unconsciously placing restrictions on God's love for us.
In the paraphrase and modification of 1st Corinthians above, I would argue that the vision of God, the model that we need to move into is one where God is Love. Any passage from the Bible that mentions Love, we should be able to substitute "God". By doing so, we are opening up God, or our vision of God, in order that we may see the unconditional character of God's affection and love for us.
Let me restate the passage again:
" 4 God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. 5 God does not dishonor others, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. 6 God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
This God is now more than the great Father/Master/King. Though all those things are still true. The focus has shifted to the character of God and away from the Image of God.
God's character is now highlighted by the following traits:
Patience, Kindness, envy-less, boast-less, humble, honoring all others, seeking the best for others, not getting angry, not keeping tally of the wrongs nor sins. God delights now with truth. God protects. God trusts. God hopes, and God endures always.
Does this not also sound like the God from the Bible? It is. The focus has changed but God has not. Our concept of God has changed but God has not.
What does this new conceptualization, new model of God affect us now? One Answer! "Unconditional Love". That is what God is. God loves period. God doesn't love in spite of. God doesn't love because we love him. God Loves. It is a fact. There is no because. There is no set of conditions. When God said "I am that I am" God could have been saying "I love that I love" and it would mean the same!
God is love.
(John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:8)
-more later.
