Seeing God is Seeing Love 
It’s never enough sees Jesus as good moral teacher or prophet, for a good moral teacher could not perform the miracles that Jesus did while on this earth or have the spiritual authority that he possessed unless he had some divine authority given to him. Though Jesus had all authority in his person, he was as fierce as a lion and as calm and as tender as a dove. To say it again, Jesus was the direct reflection of our heavenly abbah. In my opinion, what prevents us from seeing the face of love the most is seeing the Father’s wrath within the pages of the old testament. Many times believers and skeptics alike react out of emotion rather than gaining a true understanding of what is going on.
For example, most people including some Christians believe that how God speaks and acts in the old testament is fundamentally different from the new testament. Upon first glance, it might seem that way, but again we must gain a deeper understanding of what is going on. If you find yourself horrified or shocked at the fact that God would wipe out an entire group of people or city. That’s probably a good sign because that means that your emotional faculties are working properly. I too had had that same reaction when my mind and heart began to engage the pages of scripture. But what has helped me understand and come to grips with what God does in the pages of scripture as a whole, was when I began to see things from the perspective of a father.
Mind you at this point and time in my life, but if I am ever given the honor and pleasure. My son or daughter will know that their father will protect them as much as he possibly can from the forces of evil. If a man or group of men came into my home late at night and wanted more then simply appliances, but wanted to use my family for their evil purposes. You could rest assure that I would meet this force of evil with much fire and resistance of my own, even if it meant taking their lives. Would I enjoy it? Most certainly not, but if wiping out a group of wicked and evil people who threatened the peace and well-being of my family. Much of the same motivation, I believe can be said of God the Father. In both protecting the Israelites and Gentiles of today. God wants to protect us from anything that aims to attack the holiness and purity that he has graciously bestowed upon us. I’m sure that it can be difficult to believe that God could love us this much, but if it’s true, then we have to let it move from our brains to our hearts.
We have to let it transform our lives from the inside out, we have to allow God to love us and let his love move over the old scars and pains in our lives. And in no shortage of words, we must have God as our first love before anything else in our lives. Which never truly made sense to me, until I realized that nothing else in this world could provide me with the kind of love that my heart desires the way God can. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want a relationship with a woman, and a future wife someday or even a kids of my own. But that when there are human beings mixed in the fold, where sin abounds, feelings get hurt, hearts get broken and relationships fracture. Yet God is there to always love us the way we have always wanted. Again, simply because we are to have God (the king of the universe) as our ultimate love, does not in any way mean that we don’t get to chances on loving people. But that we do not make others our ultimate satisfaction.
Only when we know how much God loves us, can we truly love others. When we see how God loves us in our stubbornness, can we begin to love others in their own. Only when we see how much God loves us in our selfishness, can we love others in their own. The price and risk that our Lord took despite how stubborn and selfish of people we are, only to provide us with new hearts, minds, hands and feet is something that is something so marvelous that no metaphor or new way of understanding well ever compare to how wide and deep the love of God is for us. Still, though the question still stands, how do we let and allow God to love us? After all, it’s not that easy, yet I believe that there is great freedom in admitting such an honest statement. It’s strange to me how skeptics largely assume that they’re the only ones that have questions. All one would have to do is look inside the mind of an honest thinking Christian to know that we have questions too.
The only difference is, is that Christians are not afraid to approach God with our questions. For we know that our questions will not move Gods eyes from us but only bring us closer to God if we allow them to. Hebrews 11:6 tells us “And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Of course, after reading the above passage, it would be very easy to think “well, I barely even believe that God exists.” Which is perfectly okay statement and conclusion to make, but I believe must be examined and focused is the small seed of faith that it takes to make such a statement. If you barely believe that God exists, that suggests then that there is a small spark inside you that has the ability to be ignited.
brandonleeryan 