How Loving Is God?

 

How Loving Is God?

In these posts on God the Father my primary purpose is to alleviate any fear of God that the reader may have, because as long as such a fear exists, it will prevent him from having the close relationship with God that is his inborn right and destiny. In the previous post I explained God would not punish us for our misdeeds. In this post, we want to study the depth of God's love for each of us. We have already learned that since He created us for companionship, there are no duplicates. Those souls were not created by one powerful sweep of God's hand, but each one was separately created carefully and lovingly, with its own mind and personality. Among all of those billions of souls that God created, every individual one is so precious to him that He will not neglect it when it makes the decision to return to Him.

An example that demonstrates this kind of love is the following experience, which was related by Psychology professor at a major New York City university. It took place on a cold winter evening on a subway, for which she had been waiting twenty minutes, while worrying about catching pneumonia.

“The train smelled of garlic and peanuts, and the people crowded in with us looked dirty and shabby. Across the aisle a child with hands streaked with chocolate had patted its mother's face and coat, leaving smudgy fingerprints all over her. Two seats away another mother was wiping off her dress where her baby had thrown up. A group of older children were making a lot of noise, and one of these picked up a wad of chewing gum and put it in his mouth. At the far end of the train some old men were arguing heatedly and perspiring freely. I was finding the whole situation increasingly disgusting, and closed my eyes to shut it out, feeling sick to my stomach.

And then a stunning thing happened. It was very brief…. An accurate account of what happened is impossible. As an approximation, however, I can say that it was as though a blinding light blazed up behind my closed eyes and filled my mind entirely. Without opening my eyes, I seemed to be watching a figure of myself as a child, walking directly into the light. The child seemed to know exactly what she was doing. It was as if the situation were completely familiar to her. For a moment she paused and knelt down, touching the shining ground with elbows, wrists, and forehead in what looked like an Eastern gesture of deep reverence. Then she got up, walked to the right side and knelt again, this time resting her head as if leaning against a gigantic knee. The feeling of a great arm reached around her and she disappeared. The light grew even brighter, and I felt the most indescribably intense love streaming from the light to me. It was so powerful that I literally gasped and opened my eyes.

I saw the light an instant longer, during which I loved everyone on that train with that same incredible intensity. Everyone there was unbelievably beautiful and incredibly dear. Then the light faded and the old picture of dirt and ugliness returned. The contrast was truly shocking. It took me several minutes to regain a semblance of composure.”

There are two very important lessons taught by this vision. First, the depth of God's love is expressed in the quote, “ I felt the most indescribably intense love streaming from the light to me”. This kind of intense love is also described in the book Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander.

Second, the quote, “I loved everyone on that train with that same incredible intensity. Everyone there was unbelievably beautiful and incredibly dear” teaches us that is the way that God sees each of us. He is incapable of seeing the ugly, tawdry side that we perceive on the physical level. Not a single one was excluded, and not a single flaw was exposed.

Throughout the New Testament we find an emphasis on God's love. Jesus said, “God is Love”. That is a powerful, unambiguous declaration. He began the Lord's prayer, with “Our Father”; not, “My Father”. He quoted the Father: “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice”. And what a loving image he presents in the quotation, :“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings”. Also, this image from the book of Revelation, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” and Paul's words (Rom. 8:38,39), "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God."

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