There is a song called “What is Love?” That question got me thinking. Please join me in the process.
I believe it when the bible says that “God is love” But I have also seen and experienced that love could be painful. Yet, there are also examples of love bringing healing. So then, how can love be painful and bring healing? If God is love, is pain and integral part of who he is? Is pain caused by love something inherent to what it means to be created in the image of God? We might be comfortable saying that God is love because it ultimately brings healing. But I wonder if that is only one side of it.
To make it even more complicated lets think about this. I am pretty sure all of us can think of someone who has been hurt by love in one way or another. Big or small wounds, doesn’t matter. I know I have wounds. But that’s not the point. I rather wonder, could the hurt caused by love be healed by love? Maybe…If Jesus died a painful death because his love for sinners, (who most of them never responded to his love) he was also resurrected because God loved him. We might be comfortable saying that God is love because he brings healings. But I wonder if that is only one side of it.
This comes down to everyday life. We cannot live without love. Or we can try, but a very brief look at reality and my own life simply tells I need love to survive. I know someone might think “But there are different kinds of love and our love for each other is not same as Gods love for us.” Yes, but take away love in any form and see what happens. I am not even going to try that. We cannot fool ourselves and think that only Gods love matters. Love between human beings matters too.
However, it seems to me that wherever I turn, there is now way around love in any of its forms. But equally true, wherever I turn there is now way around pain. They go together. They did so for Jesus. They will do so for us. So why avoid pain? It might be the other side of love
