God is….Love

This was an interesting one.  I found myself drawn to verses that I think address the way that "God is love" is the most misused.  A lot of people, Christians included, like to use the "God is love" theme to excuse any and all bad behavior.  That God loves us all equally because He made us all.

Well let's take a look at some Scripture. 

Exodus 20:4-6(NKJV)

    “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 

you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 

but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Notice that God shows mercy to a select group.  Who does God show mercy to?  Those who love Him and keep His commandments.  Now God does love everyone but as you can see from this Scripture, that love doesn't exempt people from punishment.

It's no different than the way we deal with our kids.  In fact the whole idea of God not punishing people because He loves them is pretty childish in and of itself.  Think about it.  If your kids did something wrong that deserved punishment and they said "you wouldn't punish me if you really loved me." what would you tell them?  Well I believe God the Father sees things the same way.

Proverbs 8:17(NKJV)

    I love those who love me,     And those who seek me diligently will find me.

Once again we see God singling out a group for His love.  He loves those who love Him.  Here is how I see this one.  We read and hear about families where a person's kids or grandkids never come to see them anymore.  In a general way this person still loves their kids or grandkids but it probably isn't the same type of "active" love that there would be if those kids or grandkids had an actual relationship with the person.  Make sense? 

Isaiah 61:8(NKJV)

    “For I, the Lord, love justice;      I hate robbery for burnt offering;     I will direct their work in truth,     And will make with them an everlasting covenant.

I found this one interesting.  God makes a point of saying that he loves justice.  I think that there are a lot of "social justice warriors" out there who are seeking anything but real justice.  It'll be interesting to see how God deals with them. 

Oh and BTW, for all of those people who say "God doesn't hate anything", you are wrong.  Take a look at the green highlighted Scripture.

Daniel 9:4(NKJV)

And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 

This seems to be a common theme.  God's active love is again reserved for those who love God and keep his commandments.

1 John 4:8(NKJV)

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 

And finally we have this verse.  God is love.  Here is how I see this one.  I think there are different levels of love in play here. 

There is the general love that God has for everyone because He made them.  On the other hand there is a more personal and a more active love for those who love God and actively seek to build a relationship with Him.

When viewed through the paradigm of God the Father this makes sense doesn't it?