October 22, 2004
The Lemon Tree
Read: 1 John 4:15-19
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. —1 John 4:16
Bible In One Year: Isaiah 65-66; 1 Timothy 2
People who have given up on love probably agree with the words to the song "Lemon Tree" by the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary:
"Don't put your faith in love,
my boy," my father said to me,
"I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree."
Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet
but the fruit of the poor lemon
is impossible to eat.
Many people feel that way. "Love is bitter," they say, because they've been used or abused. But there is a love that is sweet: "God is love" (1 John 4:16).
The world wants to turn John's phrase around. "Love is God," they say, and seek love as the highest good. But John did not say that love is God. "God is love," he said. Author Frederick Buechner wrote, "To say that love is God is romantic idealism. To say that God is love is either the last straw or the ultimate truth."
The last straw? Yes, for some it is. They have looked for love in all the wrong places and have no other place to turn. But when they give themselves to God, as He is made real and personal in Jesus, they find the love they've been looking for all their lives.
God is not indifference, abandonment, and abuse, my friend. God is love. —David Roper
Led by grace that love to know—
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so. —Robinson
God's love knows no limits.