The underlying message is love. God is love, absolute, unconditional love. All we, as created beings, need do is turn to God with humility and contrition and God will shower us with more love than we can imagine.
Yes, Jehovah has four cardinal qualities, (justice, wisdom, power, and love) but only one of them epitomizes all that he is and does....."agape".
In Greek, there are four words often translated as “love.”
One is
"eʹros" (a word not found in the Christian Greek Scriptures), which is based on sexual attraction; another is
stor·geʹ, which is a feeling based on blood relationship; still another is
phi·liʹa, a is warm friendship love based on mutual esteem. But it is
a·gaʹpe....the love based on principle, which could be said to be synonymous with unselfishness....the love the apostle John referred to when he said: “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
But I have to say that I believe that God's love
is 'conditional' and has been from our beginnings. The one negative rule Jehovah had told to Adam was an indication that his love was not to be taken for granted. It is not a love based on sentiment, but on principle. God's laws were not negotiable, and the penalty for serious breaches, was death....without mercy for willful unrepentant wrongdoers. Is that "loving"? Many would consider that dictatorship, but in truth, that is what Jehovah is. We are his servants and we are not to forget it....he is a loving and benevolent 'Dictator' because he alone is the Universal Sovereign and respect for him is both earned and commanded.
Receiving love from our creator, we are to love each other and ourselves. By love ourselves I don't mean superficial puffery. Such false self-love is pandering and flattery and stems from the ego, a reflection of sin (we see a lot of this nowadays, but that's a topic for another thread).
I agree.....this reminds me of the George Benson song "The Greatest Love of All"...."learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all" and this is very true....you cannot truly love anyone else (including the Creator) until you learn to love yourself as God does. You cannot think more of yourself than is necessary....(Romans 12:3)...but Christ did not die for some more than others....he died equally for all who come to him in humility and love out of willing obedience.
Once we begin to love ourselves as God loves us, and to see that love in others also, a transformation takes place inside us that is difficult to describe. We become light. Our troubles seem to fade. That does not mean we don't have troubles, but that our troubles are not a source of suffering as they once were. The letters of Paul describe this transformation well.
This is a wonderful state of being....having faith that replaces fear and worries about our present condition. Everything we suffer is temporary and endurance on our part will strengthen our faith and our resolve to
"remain in God's love". (Jude 20-21; Matthew 24:13)
Paul suffered greatly for his faith, but because he had done a lot of damage in his ignorance, he felt that he needed to make it up to his heavenly Father by enduring much in his service. Out of all the apostles, he alone was educated at the Rabbinical schools, a Pharisee and the son of Pharisees, who could hold his own in conversing with the educated ones of his day......something that humble fishermen could not do. His was a special assignment as "an apostle to the nations", being able to converse with the philosophers at the Ar·e·opʹa·gus, giving them a thorough witness concerning the Lord Jesus. (Acts 17:22-31) But also speaking with authority as one versed in the Law to fellow Jews.
Jesus said in John 15:10...
"If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love."
So right from day one, the way to
'remain in God's love' is to obey him in all things......it is all he has ever asked of us. He sent his son and told us to
"listen to him".
Imagine if the three rebels who caused the fall, had simply obeyed their Creator.....what life would we be living now, do you think?
