Love

In 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Elie Wiesel "for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity." As a child, Elie and his family were deported to German concentration camps. I've often been moved by one of his most famous quotes:

*"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."*

The well-known atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins argues for indifference: *"The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."*

It's bleak, but if there is no God, isn't Dawkins right? How could 'blind physical forces' offer humanity any form of benevolent love?

**By contrast, consider Psalm 136.**

If you ever want to memorize half of 26 verses, just remember five words: "His faithful love endures forever." This powerful refrain reminds us that God's faithful love is primary. It is because God is always, eternally, every moment full of love that there is so much to praise God for.

God goes so far as to call us his Beloved. John tells us, "God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him." For Christians, the entire context of our lives is the love of God.

But to understand God's love, we cannot start with our experience of love and tidy it up a bit as we project it onto God. Rather, God is love, and by his grace, we are recipients of his love. The theologian Graham Cole writes:

*"Within the Godhead, there are three persons who relate to each other in love... Furthermore, it is that same love that reaches out to us... His love reflects his nature—it is perfect and unchanging."*

**We are not loved because we are lovable. We are loved because God is love.**