Who is God? What is love?

Who is God?

What is love?

I've been thinking about these questions for awhile now.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes what love is, and in 1 John 4:8 John tells us that God is love, so...

God is patient.

God is kind.

God is not jealous.

God is not conceited.

God is not proud.

God is not ill-mannered.

God is not selfish.

God is not irritable.

God does not keep a record of wrongs.

God is not happy with evil.

God is happy with the truth.

God never gives up.

God's faith never fails.

God's hope never fails.

God's patience never fails.

God is eternal.

God is love.

Let's think about that.

To give credit where credit is due. 

These ideas I got from you:

https://tabletalk.online/02-what-and-who-is-god/

Where Does Love Come From?

Throughout history, people have often asked: Why is there so much pain and suffering?  If God is love, if God is all powerful, why does he allow so much pain and suffering?

I have been one of those people, and I have also asked: Why do some people experience a lot of pain and suffering and other people only little?

I couldn't make sense of it all and so, for the most part, I ignored the issue.

When I was coming out of the days of my deepest doubt.  When I no longer denied the existence of God but still questioned the nature of his character, a profound question emerged and burned into my consciousness:

Where does love come from?

Has that question ever occurred to you?  I have never heard anyone ask it before.

The Bible says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8).  Love, therefore, must come from God.  That's one explanation.  That is one supporting point for the existence of a God of love, for love has to come from somewhere.  How else can we explain the source of love?

No Answers

So what are my conclusions from the last two blog posts?

In the first one, "Why?", I shared some possible answers as to why good things and bad things happen in general, however there were no answers for specific situations.  There are still no answers for why my brother died as a result of his car accident while other people have been miraculously healed.

When Job asked, "Why?", God didn't give him answers for his specific situation either.  

We do not know why God heals some people and lets others die.  We do not know why some people live relatively happy lives while others experience a lot of pain and suffering.  God hasn't given us answers for our specific situations.  What he has done, is given us a picture of who He is.

• God created each and every one of us and the world in which we live.
• God is love.
• God paid the price for our sin so that He could live with us forever.
• God wants to be with us.
  
• He paints the glorious sunsets and sunrises.
• He hangs the dew drops on the blades of grass and embeds them in the spiders' web.

Study the Bible (particularly the gospels) and nature to find out more about who God really is.

God has not given us answers for our specific situations, but one day He will (though not in this lifetime).  We need to trust Him and wait.

Rather than trying to give answers to suffering people, let's admit that we don't have answers.  In the words of my friend Jess, "I just feel like the cliche Christian platitudes don't cut it when it comes to pain and suffering." Rather than trying to fix the pain and suffering of those around us, let us sit with them in empathy and look for practical ways to show love and care to them.