A Simple Faith in a Complicated World
“Faith is hard,” my friend said – and my heart broke. I don’t believe God intended for it to be difficult. I do believe we have made it so.
Can faith really be simplified? Yes. Our world is complicated. We’ve allowed our lives to be overly complicated but our faith doesn’t have to be.
These are simple beliefs for a profound faith. They fill me with wonder and amazement.
#ONE
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 1 John 4:16
God is love
There is a world of difference between believing that God is love opposed to God loves.
A God who loves also has the ability to not-love. Believing that God’s love is an action, makes us question, Who does He love? Why does He love? And how do I make sure He choses to love me?
If God choses to love, then He must also have the ability to choose not to love. What a sad and scary thought. This belief keeps its believers in a place of neediness, uncertainty, and unworthiness.
Insert a two letter word and love no longer is an action – it is a constant. When we believe that God IS love, our entire perspective of Him changes.
If 1 John 4:16 is true and God IS love, then He cannot not-love. It is who He is. Believing that God chooses to love, is the same as saying He chooses to be God, and that makes no sense at all. How could God not be God? Believing in a God who is love, removes our doubts.
As for thinking we can somehow earn God’s love, that would mean we must be able to earn God. Is that even possible?
Unfortunately, this is how so many live their lives, searching for the way to find God, thinking they have to somehow align themselves with a spiritual equation, hoping that God will see their efforts and shine His love on them. Sadder yet, they reflect those beliefs on others, insisting that they too must strive for, align with, and search for the key that will unlock God’s love.
A faith that defines God as LOVE – has no lock.
It is the door to which opens us to God and He to us. It comes with only one requirement – accepting that God and Love are one and the same.
God is Love
A conversation among friends
“I don’t believe in God,” he said. “How could a God allow bad things to happen.”
“I don’t believe in that god either,” I replied. “That god needs a mommy.”
We both laughed.
“Do you believe in love?” I asked. He nodded.
“That is the God I believe in. So, I guess we believe the same.”
This is an excerpt from, A Simple Faith in a Complicated World, expected to release in Summer of 2022.
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