Beyond Words

(“This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9)

How do you describe the endless distance of space which we call the universe? How do we fathom the long arch of time without end or beginning? How even do we understand the infinite smallness of the miniature sub-atomic particles of which the entire world is made? It takes volumes to even learn the language used by those who speak of such things.

The astronomer talks of quarks, and the physicist who studies time, space and matter talks about alpha particles, the exclusion principle and Coulomb’s law. Do not be impressed, I consulted a glossary. The point is that not only are these concepts far beyond our ability to comprehend, we often have to learn a new language to even talk about them.

In some ways it is the same with God’s love. We understand things like sacrifice and “giving”, but have little true experience with a love that never gives up on anyone and accepts everyone. Even the finest among us reserve their best attention and affection for those they enjoy being around. We would probably commend that person for “putting up” with others whose company he does not enjoy so much.

One thing every human on the planet agrees upon (I think), is that love must be shown. “Show me you love me.” We want more than words. We tire of promises. Although scented letters with fancy words of affection may be kept tied with a ribbon for years, we still need something more. Much of the romantic literature of the past describes the lover fighting some great enemy for the love of his beloved. Although, sometimes there is a great reversal, as in Cyrano de Bergerac, where, out of love for Roxanne, he keeps his identity secret, so she and Christian can be together.

Ah, but I digress…Cyrano is one of my favorite tales and characters from literature.

God, in His eternal love for mankind, did slay a great enemy for us. But it was not some many-headed monster living in a cave, a fire-breathing dragon, or even troops of enemy soldiers sworn to take us down. No, He battled the enemy we had battled since our first opportunity to choose Him first…the first time we failed. He slew the inner cancer of sin that kept us from full expression of devoted love. That horrible killing disease grew at a ferocious rate each time we chose once more to say “no” to the God who we knew was good.

We were guilty. It was not simple weakness, it was the choices we made that kept us apart from the Lover of our souls. And God, loving us so completely, hated the thing that kept us apart. As brutal as the sin was that infected us, even more brutal was His plan to destroy the cancer once and for all.

Without harm to a single patient, He took the dreaded therapy Himself. Just as the “cure” for physical cancer seems more deadly than the illness itself, our sins required a therapy of death itself. God would dwell among us and take into Himself the poisonous cure and, having died through the cross’s agony, would arise three days later with healing in His Wings.

This is how God showed His love for us, and it makes my heart literally skip a beat. It causes me, at the moments I am most lucid, to wonder at the impossible forgiveness that wiped all my offenses clean. Not just mine only, but the entire world. Romans 5 says it happened “while we were still sinners”!

Language languishes to describe this love that is deeper than the pit of my sin. It fails in attempt to describe the lengths to which it goes to reach into the heart of those who have tried to hide in the darkness from the One who loves them most. It is impossible to speak of the width of a love that embraces every tribe and nation; carries to its heart each and every person or group who has been denied access to love by others.

We think there are certain people who do not deserve love. We are afraid to love the worst among us, afraid our love will be taken advantage of. We do not want our hands dirtied by the immoral or by the practitioners of hatred. We do not want anyone to think we are associated with that kind in any way. Yes, we are certain, there are some, perhaps only a few, but there are some who simply will misuse our love, and can never deserve it.

We are probably right. But love, real love, God’s sort of love is never about who deserves it the most. His love is given, not because of who we are, but because of who He is. His nature is love. His nature is giving. His nature is to clean the impure, to forgive the criminal, to restore the hopeless and to heal the incurable.

When we come to terms with this sort of love, we find ourselves changing. Sometimes slower than other times, but our walls begin to crumble. We are unafraid of how we smell after digging in and giving practical help. We no longer care as much what people think when we hang out with the “undesirables”. Indeed, we eventually find ourselves attracted to many who others just turn away from. We discover we are truly living “through Him.”