A DESCRIPTION OF GOD

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's think about Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13.

Imagine inserting the word "God" for the word "love" as you read. If we do that, the first part of the passage would be telling us that we could have the entire universe, but without God we would have nothing.

The temptation here is to speak to atheists by saying that they might have all knowledge, all science (same thing sort of), and all the answers, but with no God as they claim they have in this life means they have nothing.

Paul is not writing to atheists. He is writing to his church. He is writing to Christians. We, just as much as anyone, and truly more than anyone, need to live Paul's message.

Look at our history. For the first two hundred years we had schisms, ugly words, and ugly rhetoric to describe dissenters, but we did not murder masses of people.

With Constantine came the reins of power given to Christians. Did we use those reigns to guide the church in the direction Jesus taught?  Did we move toward the kind of humanitarian care love requires?  

History tells us the answer. It shows why the people of the world may not universally love us and trust us. We have murdered a lot of our fellow human beings, and among them, we have murdered a lot of our own brothers and sisters.

As I read the passage, I wonder if Paul's concern is about a spiritual condition or is it a statement of being?

Recall, that many times I have written that God is the ground of being. No God means no anything. No God means nothing is all there is and there ain't anymore.

This is a statement of being. It is impossible for any of us to not have God. We live in God, and since God is love, we live in love. We may resist God, kicking and screaming, posing every rationale we can against God, but there it is. We have God. We have love. We have it all whether we know it or not.

Of course, when we love we exist in the most profound spiritual state ever known. So love is all about spirit and being.

In the first few verses of this passage, Paul is explaining the value of love. Love should be our ultimate concern since we are Christians.

Love should be everyone's ultimate concern.

  

Power, riches, fame, and anything else we value in this life are nothing if we have not love. Our lives are so empty when they can be filled with love, but are not.

To sum this up: 

If I speak with the charisma of a god,

If I know and understand everything,

If my faith transcends natural law,

If I give all my wealth away,

If I martyr my life,

And I have no God-love

Then my being in this world is a big fat zero.

Next:  Imagining God as kind. It's easy if you try.

Blessings...