God With Us: The Search for a Loving God

The good news of the Christian gospel can be summarized in just four words: God is with us!

This is a precious truth that brings great joy and profound comfort. The gift of Christ is the ultimate expression of God's humble, self-giving love. This gift satisfies our hearts' deepest longing; it reveals that we are loved! It fulfills our desire for meaning and purpose: it reveals that we matter to God!

We know God loves us and that our lives matter because of the incarnation - because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in Christ, our Emmanuel, God with us.

Too often, we take these things for granted. We are like the German poet Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) who said to a priest on his deathbed, "Of course, God will forgive me; that's his job." Likewise, many simply assume, "Of course, God loves me; that's his job."

But apart from the incarnation, why would we assume this to be true? Where did we ever get the idea that God - if God exists - loves us and that our lives matter to God?

Join me in a thought experiment. Let's completely remove the incarnation from our understanding and experience. Let's pretend it never happened - that Jesus was never born. Now, ask yourself, how can you be assured of God's love? What reasons can you give that suggest you matter to God at all? What evidence exists to make the case for a loving God who is humbly interested in your welfare?

How Can I Know He Loves Me?

We could look at nature in its vast splendor - its attractive forms, vibrant colors, and profound beauty. But, as the English poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, nature is also "red in tooth and claw." When we look deeper into the beauty of a body of water, or the majesty of a mountainous horizon, or the serenity of a lush forest, we discover a bloody fight for survival among the earth's inhabitants. The big fish eat the little fish; the large animals prey on the smaller animals; and so on. Nature may hint at transcendent beauty, but it also reveals bloody, brutal, and vicious realities. Nature alone does not suggest that God loves us or that our lives matter. Humanity's only real accomplishment may be that we're the best survivors, the top of the food chain and nothing more. Yes, nature is beautiful, but it is also "red in tooth and claw."

Perhaps our personal desires for transcendence hint at the possibility of God's love. Perhaps our desire for divine love is confirmation of its existence. This, of course, is possible. Generally speaking, we do not desire what does not exist. But it is also possible that this desire is nothing more than an illusion. After all, we do long for things that we cannot - and will not - ever possess. What if this longing for transcendence is no more than a survival instinct? Or worse, what if it is simply a desperate attempt to escape the reality of our own mortality - the inevitability of the ultimacy of death? Just because we have deep longings for something doesn't mean it exists - or ever will exist - in reality. (For example, I dream of a world where everyone wears spandex and capes, possesses the ability to fly, speaks in Old English, and listens to Progressive Rock. But this is not likely to become reality!)

Perhaps philosophy - the height of human wisdom - can aid us in our search for a loving God. Human reason can make sound arguments for the existence of an Uncaused Cause that causes events to happen and a Prime Mover to put matter in motion. It can defend the existence of a Necessary Being in a contingent world. It can suggest the need for an Intelligent Designer to offer the possibility of purpose. Yet, even if these conclusions were beyond doubt, we still are no closer to a loving God. We are left with, at best, a distant and uncaring God. Why should an Uncaused Cause, the Prime Mover, the Necessary Being, an Intelligent Designer love us? God could have great power, but no love. God could perform works beyond fathoming, and still have no personal interest in human welfare.

The Problem with God

The problem with God is that we cannot know God through unaided human reason. Nature doesn't speak with clarity (the message it sends of beauty and blood is mixed). Our desires can be misguided and deluded. Our philosophies are subject to our intellectual limitations.[1]

Put simply: God is too great to know through human reason alone. Finitum non capax infinitum. The finite cannot comprehend the Infinite. It is not possible to contain the ocean in a thimble. Likewise, it is not possible for the human mind to completely comprehend God. For us to comprehend God, we must be God.

We cannot reach up to God. God is infinite, limitless, and holy. We are finite, limited, and fallen. Left to ourselves, the chasm between us and God is insurmountable, uncrossable.

But God can descend to us. God can reach down to us. God can come to us.

And the coming of God is what we celebrate at Christmas. "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:1, 14). The infinite One became finite. The invisible One became visible. The incomprehensible One became comprehensible.

And God's coming was not in fiery manifestations of unfathomable power. It did not subject us to the crushing impact of unbearable glory. Instead, God's coming was in the humility, vulnerability, and approachability of a child. "God took on our 'skin'--he became flesh--to meet us where we are."[2]

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He reveals the love of God. He proves that our lives matter. He reveals the "truth about God" - truth we could not possess from nature alone, human desires, or through the best philosophical reasoning. We learn of God's incomprehensible humility, inconceivable love (best described, "God so loved..."), and solidarity in our humanity in and through the incarnation. We can draw near to God because God first draws near to us in Christ. God moved into our neighborhood and became one of us. This is how we know God loves us and that our lives matter.

The Cost of Love

Love is never without cost, and the cost to God was high. Such vulnerability and weakness places one's life at risk. Jesus not only shared our humanity, but he also shared our suffering, our sorrow, our sin. This is why the story of the incarnation is the story of love.

Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao, a village on the island of Molokai in Hawaii that had been quarantined to serve a leper colony. For sixteen years he lived in their midst. He learned to speak their language. He bandaged their wound embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone. He organized schools, bands, and choirs. He built homes so that the lepers could have shelter. He built two thousand coffins by hand so that when they died, they could be buried with dignity. Slowly, it was said, Kalawao became a place to live rather than a place to die, for Father Damien offered hope.

Father Damien was not careful about keeping his distance He did nothing to separate himself from his people. He dipped his fingers in the poi bowl along with the patients. He shared his pipe. He did not always wash his hands after bandaging open sores. He got close. For this the people loved him.

Then one day he stood up and began his sermon with two words: "We lepers...."

Now he wasn't just helping them. Now he was one of them. From this day forward he wasn't just on their island; he was in their skin. First he had chosen to live as they lived; now he would die as they died. Now they were in it together.

One day God came to earth and began his message: "We lepers..." Now he wasn't just helping us. Now he was one of us. Now he was in our skin. Now we were in it together.[3]

Some recent books have wrestled with what the world would be like if Jesus was never born. These books make some good points in regard to how our culture, values, and lives would be different. But this essay has sought to wrestle with how our perspective of God would be drastically different without Jesus - Jesus who reveals God's inconceivable love, incomprehensible humility, and solidarity in our suffering. Jesus - God with us!  

The prophet Isaiah longed to see God, "O, that you would rend the heavens and come down" (Isaiah 64:1). What the prophet longed for is now reality. God has rended the heavens, not in fiery judgment but in gentle humility. Heaven and earth - deity and humanity - are forever united. God is with us and there's no turning back. He has taken upon himself the leprosy of our suffering, sorrow and sin. Now we are in this together - God is with us!

This is how we know God loves us and that our lives matter.

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© Richard J. Vincent, 2008