God is Love; Who are we?

WORD 2day: Tuesday after the Epiphany Sunday

January 5, 2021: 1 John 4: 7-10; Mark 6: 34-44

God's image among God's people was continuously evolving...first they thought God was a demanding task master, but later they understood God was loving too; first they thought God was an angry God but later they found God slow to anger, abounding in love; first they thought God was an uncompromising God but later they understood he was merciful too! They gradually came to understand the goodness and sweetness of God, but in no way losing sight of the uncompromising righteousness that was characteristic of God. 

The evolution found its climax in Christ, who reveals God as absolutely compassionate, profusely loving, immensely forgiving and unconditionally accepting...but always uncompromisingly righteous and pure! Jesus manifested this combination in its pristine form. In his firmness with the self-appointed leaders and  hypocritical religious heads and in his compassion with the sinners, the outcasts, the ill and the poor, Jesus was reflecting the image of the invisible God.

Knowing God to be such a person, is in a way a great news for us; but at the same time a big challenge. A great news because we are cared for and protected in that unbelievable love. A challenge because, if we are children of God, we need to be defined by who God is. 

Our God is love; hence we are called to be children of love! From the way we live our life, the world should be able to understand the kind of God we believe in. This is what is called the integrity of faith: the correlation between our faith and our living!

Now that Jesus in his compassion and in his mercy, has revealed God as love, let us ask ourselves, who are we?