We know the word "gratuitous." It refers to "excess" or "unnecessary," like "That movie had too much gratuitous sex and violence." The dictionary lists a few definitions. The word originally meant simply "free," but the word has migrated a bit since then. Now it means "without apparent justification." The legal version means "without expecting a return value." You can see, I'm sure, the correlation with "free." No obligation on your part. The "gratuitous sex" was sex in the movie that the movie didn't require to tell the story, for instance.
So what about this one: "gratuitous love." What would constitute gratuitous love? For humans, we are obligated to love God and love one another. That eliminates, for the largest part, gratuitous love among humans. However, there is the possibility of gratuitous love for us when we consider loving that which is not required. For instance, "I love birds" is all well and good, but it is not commanded or required. An entomologist might love ants, but you and I are under no obligation to do the same. It is no crime or evil to take some ant spray to that line of invaders climbing into your pantry. That might be "gratuitous love" for someone.
What about God? Is there such a thing as gratuitous love with God? The question is a little reversed. What is God obligated to love? He loves Himself; to do otherwise would be idolatry. What else? Well, He loves us, of course. But is that obligatory? Is He required to do so? If He did not, would He be wrong? Most of us would answer in the affirmative, but that's because most of us are sinners in our thinking because God is not obligated to love His creation. We know this because there are times that He hates aspects of it (e.g., Psa 5:5; Psa 11:5-6; Prov 6:16-19; Rom 9:13). If God hates the wicked and "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23), it looks like we might be in trouble.
We all like the wonderful fact that God loves us (John 3:16). That's a good thing. What we generally don't keep in mind is that God is not obligated to love us. God's love for us is gratuitous. It is freely given without obligation or expectation. No obligation on God's part. We too often think that "Of course He loves us; He's supposed to." He is not. He does it freely. Considering what sinners we are, that is amazing love.
1 comment:
Not that this is a new concept to me, but every time I contemplate these kinds of concepts, the more amazing grace becomes. It's like it's the opposite spectrum from Paul's "chief among sinners". It wasn't that he was such a horrible person, but that the more he understood God, the more egregious his sin became. But the more we realize how horrendous we are, the more amazing it is that God has kept is around this long. And then I think of the who try to diminish that disparity, and I pity them for how weak their view of grace is. Why would you wish to diminish grace, simply to make yourself look better? It only serves to "dim" God's glory by "brightening" ours. My salvation in the face of my ever increasing worthlessness simply multiplies my love for Him. The fact that He even bothers to love me in my filth... There are no words.
Post a Comment