Truth to Love

A God you know about, but don’t trust, that’s useless. A God whose love you affirm but reject experiencing, that’s miserable.

But He really is my God, by His smashing grace. Knowing who God is (theology) increases the value of His love for me. Because He is perfect, yet suffered shame, I praise His love more. Because He loved his own Son so much, but sent Jesus to suffer in my place, I am humbled by His grace. Because He is able to create and maintain the whole universe, yet chooses to interact with me on a daily basis, I crumble with joy! Because He is infinitely good, I have peace passing understanding.

I live in a sphere of truth as I know it. Truth is something I crave and cling to because it enables me to love my God. When a part of that sphere is bombarded with doubt (from within or without), I get defensive. I whirl around in my little world, reexamining associations, texts, and experiences. Whether I had been wrong about the truth or the doubt had been unfounded, I go through that experience every time. Some questions are smaller. Others challenge me to re-read my whole Bible with the tension of interpretation presented by a different view. Contradictions can even turn out to be paradoxes when I go deep enough into them.

To entertain questions, engage discussions, and comprehend a sense of truth (even as presented in creeds or “institutes”) is not, I conclude, wrong. Here let me clarify. If the motive for acquiring truth is to better experience God’s love and return it – if the pursuit is in the context of your relationship with God – and if the odyssey is not harming other people, then it is not wrong.

To God be all glory.