God Loves You...BUT

Yes, that must be the biggest ugliest 'BUT' known to man. Even bigger than Martin Lawrence's prosthetic butt in any of the Big Mamma's House movies. It's nasty.

Why do we use that ominous 'but' and what is the impact thereof?

I've heard and said that 'but' from the pulpit on many occasions - I cringe to think about it. Throughout Christendom we build up the unconditional love of God - how amazing it is, how deep and wide, how unending and unfailing, how all redeeming. And rightfully so because that is what it is. But too much grace makes people hard to control, so we must restrain the unbridled freedom with healthy doses of fire and brimstone or threats of disease and stroke, should this precious resource be abused and exploited. We attribute any misfortune to punishment and judgement. Nothing new really. We build up God's 'unconditional' love and then in one fell swoop tear it down with quid pro quos, provisos, clauses and lots of fine print all condensed into one small word. 

So what is the result of adding that small three letter word after 'God loves you'? The same impact it has at the end of any statement: it completely negates whatever comes before. That big ugly 'BUT' denies all the hard work of the Prophets, Apostles and Jesus himself. They've all wasted their time because of someone's oversized conjunction. We say something like, 'God loves you BUT if you don't repent you'll go to hell'. We imply that at some point God does not in fact love you. Truly the very epitome of false doctrine - if there's anything that satan or Rumpelstilskin would want you to believe, it's that God doesn't really love you - or he does but only sometimes. In fact, only when you're perfect. 

Romans 5:8 says that, 'While we were still sinners, Christ died for us' and 1 John 4:19 says that, 'We love because he first loved us'. God loved us at the height of imperfection, so those committed to at least aspiring to perfection are maybe winning some approval from God - but not more love. Everyone is privy to the fullest extent of God's love. Everyone. 

What some fail to realize is that punishment or discipline is not the absence of love. Consequence is not the absence of love, but that 'BUT' subtly suggests it is the end of love. 

For the Christians who read this and interpret every misfortune as punishment consider, 'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love' (1 Jn 4:18). 'Punishment' is not in the Redeemed's vocab. Note it doesn't say 'perfect punishment drives in love'. Oh, and that 'perfect love' is God's, not ours. Let him worry about being flawless.

So what should we say? 'God loves you FULL STOP'. He loves you when your foolish choices blow up in your face. He loves you when you're hot on the trail to hell and when you hate him, yourself and everything else. He loves you when you've given up and packed it in. You may have even written God off, BUT....