A Love for People

God just planted this marvelous image in my head showing his love for everyone. This image is nonetheless breathtaking and exuberant and fresh. It brings tears of joy to my eyes, even now just writing this weak effectiveless blog that very few people will read, but this is really just something for me to look back on later.

I guess one thing that really has developed this image has been a recent reading of a series called The Circle, in which Elyon (God) and his Son Justin (Jesus) vividly interpret the Great Romance (The Gospel). In it, Justin calls the Circle (the Church) his bride and says that each one of them is perfect. He goes on to show his heart and his love for the Horde (not-yet believers) to Thomas Hunter, the main character. It is the same for the Circle! He loves them both! This is also, just like the rest of the book, a parallel to Christianity, in that God LOVES not-yet believers!

We are all perfect! Whether we have sin in our lives, broken hearts, tattoos, greed, poverty, broken families, bad attitudes, perfect lives, missing teeth, ripped abs, blonde hair, chain smoke, overweight bellies, or any of billions of random characteristics, God loves us.

I guess for me, I have always known he loves us Christians a lot more than I can imagine. But for some reason I have never gotten around to believing the same love could be achieved for those who do not love him back. I know I would have a horribly difficult time loving someone using my name in conjunction with a curse word, or worshipping money, video games, music, or the opposite sex. But, after God implanted this image in my head of loving all he created because of their perfection, quite honestly, I feel like God has shown me his heart.

His heart is for us. All of us. Me. You. The pastor of a church. The drug dealer on the corner. The blue-collar worker. The prostitute. The basketball player. Lenny Kravitz. Bill Gates. Everyone in the World Trade Center on 9/11. In the U.S.A. In North America. In the entire WORLD.

1 John 4:6

 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.