Infinite Love from an Extravagant God

God is love. I memorized that scripture (1 John 4:8) in Sunday school as a child and I’m thankful that I did because to me it is the most important scripture to know.

I believe that God is actually much more than love and much more than what we could ever conceive of. The truth of who and what God really is lies outside the realm of the little box we cannot help but create with our finite human minds. “Don’t put God in a box,” we hear, and yet it is difficult not to. Sometimes it’s necessary to at least start out with a box and grow and evolve from there. But anyway, I do believe that God is infinitely loving and that He (or She) is extravagant with that love.

Extravagant is a great word for describing God. It means exceeding the limits of reason; lacking in moderation or restraint. Because we are human and don’t love to the degree that God loves, we often assume there are limitations to God’s love for us, but I don’t believe that there are any. The longer I've known God, the more aware I have become of His amazing love that surpasses knowledge. God’s love for creation exceeds the limits of our human reasoning. There is no moderation or restraint involved with God’s love and it’s edifying to try and grasp how liberally the riches of God’s love and grace are lavished upon us.

One outcome of fully embracing the extravagance of God’s love for us is that it inspires us to be more loving and accepting of others. When we’re focused on love and the one who is love, we become more and more like love ourselves. What we focus on expands in our lives and if we focus on love we see more love, we feel more love, and we become more loving.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God, to love others, and to love ourselves. Some people like to wear WWJD bracelets (what would Jesus do) as a reminder to live a Christ-like life. I also like the idea of WWLD (what would love do.) I believe that if something is in alignment with love, it is in alignment with God. This idea has been helpful to me in weeding out the diverse and sometimes contradictory messages in spirituality and religion.

If we love one another, God resides in us and His love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)

God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God and God resides in him.
(1 John 4:16)

If we’re aligned with love, we’re aligned with God.

God’s love for us is extravagant; it exceeds all reasoning and is without restraint. God’s love endures forever; it’s infinite. May we experience a wholehearted revelation of this and be inspired and empowered to reflect that love to those around us. Amen.