A Father’s Love

Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 13

In a devotional I have there is a story about a man named
John Griffith. This man had great dreams of being a traveler, but the
great depression of the '20s and early '30s sort of killed it. However,
he began to dream again, for he had a young son who he now dreamed of
working side by side in fellowship and friendship. One day when Greg was
8, John took him to work on the drawbridge John was responsible for.
Greg was amazed at all the huge machinery in action as the bridge went
up and down during the morning. At noon, John and his son had a picnic
lunch on an observation deck just over the mighty river the bridge crossed.

While they ate Greg listened as his father told story after story of
exotic places and amazing sites he had seen on the trains that passed
by. In the middle of a story a loud whistle announced that a train was
rapidly approaching, and the bridge was still raised. John told his son
to stay put while he rushed along the myriad of catwalks and ladders to
reach the control booth and lower the bridge. Just about to push the
button to lower the bridge John notices motion where there shouldn't be
and realizes his son has fallen off the catwalk and has his leg stuck in
one of the massive gears. He quickly conjures a plan to save his son and
lower the bridge in time, but another blast from the whistle brings him
back to the crushing reality that he cannot do both. Looking away as he
smashes the button down in anger, he sobs as the screams of his son are
drowned out but the grinding wheels and cogs and then the rush of the
passing train. He lifts his head and see the people in the train
serenely passing by, unaware of the anguish he is suffering. He shouts,
"Do you know what this trip really cost? It cost my son! I gave up my
son so you could live. Do you know that? Do you even care?" But there is
no notice of him. Did this man love his son? Was there Love in that action?

Or consider Hosea, he grew up around some big little names
like Jonah and Amos, he heard eyewitnesses of Elijah and Elisha, and he
heard the word of the Lord. This is how Eugene Peterson puts it in his
paraphrase, The Message:

The first time God spoke to Hosea he said:

"Find a whore and marry her.
Make this whore the mother of your children.
And here's why: This whole country
has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me, God." (Hosea 1:2)

Would that make you feel loved? God told Hosea to marry someone who
didn't have love, and show love to her. What's more, when Hosea had
children by his wife Gomer, God told him to name the children Jezreel,
Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi. The names had special meanings. The first one
was to signify that God was going to take his revenge on a man who
killed people he wasn't supposed to and that God was more or less done
with the kingdom of Israel in the north. The second child, a daughter,
had a name meaning "No more mercy" or no compassion. The third meant not
my people. Are you feeling any more love in all this?

I say there is Love in all that God said through the story of John
Griffith and in what God demonstrated through Hosea. In the story of
John we see a picture of God the Father and Jesus the son, the big
difference here is that God and Jesus were deliberate in their sacrifice
– John's story simply brings the emotional price home to our hearts.
However, in Hosea there is a greater picture when you read through the
whole of the book. God make Hosea an example in the flesh, of how He
loves us in reality. I believe that in 1^st Corinthians 13 God more
clearly spells out what His love means, and the importance it has to our
lives. For in these 13 verses penned by Paul to the church in Corinth,
we see a portrait of Love that gives meaningfulness, definition and
lasting vision. As we look into this, please keep in mind that God is
Love, and we can interchange His name everywhere we see the word love,
for that is who our Father is.

The first three verses speak to the meaningfulness that Love gives to
everything it touches. "If I speak…but have not love, I am a sounding
brass or cymbal clanging." How often have we heard someone teach us, but
they sound empty? Doesn't it seem that, if you go up to talk to them
later, it was something they didn't really care about, or the people
they were teaching didn't really seem to matter to them? Words spoken
without love are either hurtful or empty. Just like the untimed crash of
a cymbal in music or the banging on the piano by someone who doesn't
know how to play, it lacks life. I think Paul uses this first image of
life without Love to show how worthless life is without Love or God.
Almost anyone can hear the difference when a soloist performs something
they cherish – there is such a marked difference between a performer
that is in love with the music and the one who simply plays or sings the
notes as written. We all feel the warmth when a speaker has a passion –
a genuine passion, derived from their Love of God. Usually it creates a
deep imprint in our hearts and minds, but not because of the words that
are said, but because of the force of Love behind them. We also see Paul
talking about our understanding, and faith, as well as our giving. "If I
have…but have not Love, I am nothing" and "If I give all… but have not
love I gain nothing." The value and worth of anything said, possessed or
given away is ultimately determined by the Love with which we do it.

From verses 4 to 7 Paul changes methods. He has used metaphors to
provide a portrait of the importance of love in our actions and words.
Now, he changes to defining Love. Here again we can switch each instance
of the word love with the name of God, for God is Love. Webster's
dictionary's entry for definition is as follows:

*1* *:* an act of determining; /specifically/ *:* the formal
proclamation of a Roman Catholic dogma

*2 a* *:* a statement expressing the essential nature of something *b*
*:* a statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or
symbol <dictionary definition/s/> *c* *:* a product of defining

Now I only put the first two lines in here because they're
the most important. Paul uses that second part to express the essential
nature of Love. Webster's also has entries for Love as both a noun and a
verb, but Paul's series of "Love is" has much more depth to it. Paul
doesn't just define love as a word, but as a lifestyle, as a choice of
how to view ones' self as well. God, through Paul, does what some
philosophers said cannot be done – He defines himself as an individual,
and in the process of doing so provides us with a defined identity as
well. He tells us who we are because He has called us his sons and
daughters and then told us who He is. While I am not yet a father, I
know that when I become one I want to teach and train my children to be
like me in the good ways. I am not perfect, none of us are, but God who
is perfect, and who we can call Abba wants to do the same with us –
teach us to be like him. Many of us know a lot of people, and some of us
have more people who know us than we know, and usually they know us as
"so and so's kid." I know there are some people here that knew me not a
Matt, but as "Wes and Eva's boy." In some ways that is my identity now –
but I strive more so to be known as a son of God than anything else. The
way we are taught who we are however, comes through learning boundaries,
for when we know our boundaries we know where we really are. In knowing
where we are we become more comfortable with who we are, and it is the
Love of God that allows us to do this.

Paul starts the last verses in this chapter with a bold
statement. "Love never Fails." And while that is included in the
definition of Love, it segues into the fact that Love provides us with a
vision that is unparalleled in all of creation. Love, because it is
embodied in the person of God who is eternal, is eternal and lasting in
and of itself. When we have love we have access to a vision that
perceives, not in the short term, but in the long term. As Paul says
wisdom, prophecy, knowledge, and tounges will all eventually fade away,
but Love remains. When we look through Love we see not the temporary,
but the eternal. God, who always looks through love saw the same thing
in the kingdom of Israel even as He told Hosea to call his children Lo
(meaning not) Ruhamah (mercy) and Ammi (my people). For just a few short
verses later he renames them without the Lo, calling them Ruhamah and
Ammi – mercy and my people. Love looks and see the possibilities of what
is to come. Love also sees clearly too. "Now we see in a mirror dimly
but then…" Whenever we look without Love we see only the poor reflection
of reality. Even the best magnifying mirror does not always give us a
perfect view of ourselves. Paul might have even said "Now we see in a
picture dimly." Pictures, though made to mimic what our eyes see, do not
catch all that our eyes see, and to add to that, our eyes can't see
everything that is there. Now, does this mean that with Love we will be
able to see the infrared or ultraviolet light? No! Nor does it mean that
we will see the spirit world either. But with Love we can often see
things we miss on first glance. It means that we can see clearly and
discern what God has for us in our relationships both as families by
marriage and birth, and as our family the body of Christ.

Still you might ask, like Tina Turner did, "What's Love got
to do with it?" Love has everything to do with it. That is why Paul
finishes the chapter with these words "And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:13)
Love is the base, the foundation for everything else. In the Fruit of
the Spirit, Paul lists Love first. Christ says the greatest commandment,
"Love the Lord your God…" the second is like it, "Love your neighbor…"
Without Love our lives our empty, without meaning, and blind. But with
Love, we have life! Christ said "I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full." We have the possibility of that life only
because of the sacrifice the Christ made – out of Love. That is why what
He did impacts the whole of history – Love. That is the love we are
called to have – as Fathers, as families, and as brothers and sisters in
the family of God. God's love gives life, amazing life. But it always
comes at a cost – our own life. But if our life is without Love, is it
worth anything? Yes, it is, but according to scientists, that might only
be about $8 or so. Life with Love is invaluable – it's worth is beyond
measure. If you want that worth, that identity, that vision that allows
you to see what more there is to Life, why don't you ask Love Himself to
take and fill your emptiness now? If you have already asked Him to fill
you – ask Him for more! The Father's love is deep and always available
for free refills.