So this is my first post... kind of exciting i think! This one isn't an answer to any of my one of my seven thousand and two questions. It just explains the crazy cool meaning behind my blog title: "L'amour de Dieu est folie!"
I first stumbled upon this awesome nugget when i was reading "The Ragamuffin Gospel". (great book by the way, visual edition too!)
On Easter morning in France, you will see this phrase posted on the side of buildings, buses, and houses; graffitied on sidewalks and lamp posts and written on bathroom walls. The French sing it in church and even use it as a greeting as they wave to their neighbors. It means the love of God is folly (or foolishness). It sounds absurd and yeah it is. But it is kind of cool when you think about it. Jesus came down from perfectville and became one of us lousy humans, wasn't even liked by many people, was punched and spit on, humiliated, and eventually nailed to a piece of wood- for us. All because he...loved us? I've been learning lately that God’s love is not rational most of the time. Not only is it not rational, but it is also not in the least bit dignified. I was reading this other guy's blog and he put it perfectly. "The love of God is folly. It's insanity. It's crazy. Its the stuff of legend and myth and story. It's a scandal. It's an injustice. It's not reality. Or maybe I am all of those things and the love of God is all that really is."
God's love is that unrelenting. And that is hard for me because Christ tells us to love like He loves. I don’t have any examples of how I have loved someone like that lately because, frankly, I stink at it. We all do sometimes. But I pray that I, along with anyone else who is reading this, will have an opportunity to give someone this crazy thing called love. (I think that’s a title of a song… ha) We are all on this journey together so if you have any cool stories about how you have given love, received love, or seen love in action, please comment.
“I pray that you, being rooted and deeply established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17b-19
4 comments:
i love nuggets.
Great post. I look forward to frequenting your blog. Thanks for the link love. I'll put you on mine as well. Keep writing.
Great, succinct exposition of this phrase... A testament to the unmerited, irrational nature of God's grace that He lavishes on us, men and women who were once His enemies. His unfathomable love - captured by Christ on the cross - truly is amazing and has the power to save all the ragamuffin rebels. Romans 1:16. Selah and Amen!
In reading the Ragamuffin Gospel, I had trouble with that phrase "the love of God is folly." Thank you for explaining it and breaking it down. It is wild and crazy how God sent his son to earth to die and be humiliated for us. He showed us how to love & forgive, but too often we are blinded by the glints & glamour of the world & ourselves and rarely take time to see & share Christ like compassion.
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