My name is Tony L. Tate, and I believe God is love! PERIOD! That is a new revelation for me. Though I’ve known “intellectually” that He is love, it took me a while (more than 20 years) to realize that it was true and that He loves ME! “This I know,” NOT because the bible tells me so (and it does), but because I have experienced it for myself. However, I’ll tell you what the scripture says about Him anyway.
God is patient. God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others. He is not self-seeking. He is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres (1 Cor 13:4-7).
That was the famous love passage from 1 Corinthians. The apostle John says God is Love (1 John 4:8). If God is love, then the quote from 1 Corinthians describes who He is. And this is what I believe about the God of the universe.
I believe Jesus is the Christ, sent from God to save us from sin, NOT from God. Sin was keeping us from being able to see who God truly is. Sin was the problem. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, it was to remove sin. I do not believe he was taking our place in punishment from God. Sin is the killer of men and drove man to kill God’s only son. I think the Son of God became man to take on sin. The scripture says He became sin (2 Cor 5:21). By becoming sin and dying, He destroyed sin, making it possible for humanity to truly see God for the first time since the garden incident.
I believe Jesus has redeemed all men and women. The problem is that not all men and women know the truth about who they are. They don’t even know that they are in Christ. Some even live according to the life He gives and don’t even know it. That is a good thing. Good for them.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. But I think only a few people (few of them “Christians”) know what that looks like, though we are coming closer every day.
People who live out of love, live moral lives, and live to do good, though they are not “Christians,” do so (I believe) because it is the most natural thing to do. And the reason is that Jesus has died and removed sin. He has given us all a new nature. We still have a choice, though. We can live selfishly for ourselves or out of God’s nature, freely given to all men through His son to put others first. Believe it or not, you must look within your heart to find this kind of love (Luke 17:21).
The Father has placed us all in His Son. God’s nature is the natural nature of man. However, we can choose to live contrary to that nature. Even so, God does not give up on us when we do. He doesn’t get angry. His love doesn’t turn to hate because we reject Him and live contrary to the nature he has given us. What kind of Father hates and destroys his son or daughter because they choose their own way? Well, God is better than any parent here on earth.
He is all that Paul says about Him in the verses above, and He loves us all! God is Love. By the way, here is something I’ve noticed: I become who and what I believe Him [God] to be.
Faith, Love & Grace 