God is just, eternal, holy, wise. I believe the most fundamental trait, characteristic, attribute of God is love. GOD IS LOVE.
MAYBE DEBATABLE, BUT...
I realize some folks would argue that the core and basic attribute of God is either holiness or eternality or asceity, or wisdom or knowledge or truth or something else. I am not arguing against those traits as much as I am focusing on the importance of Divine love, as it relates to God's relationship with mankind.
I think it is fair to say that God did not create the human race out of necessity or out of wisdom or holiness or any of the other traits mentioned, as much as He did because of Love. God created Adam and the human race because He wanted to share His love with others. God gave Adam a help-meet because He loved Adam. He gave Adam the Garden because He loved Him. He gave Adam a hope for salvation because He loved him. He gave His only Begotten Son because He loved Adam and the human race.
The love of the Father is what sent Jesus to the Cross and it is the love of the Son that took Jesus to the Cross. The Holy Spirit imparts love, pours out love to believers. It is love for God that causes believers to obey and serve God.
It is love for self, love for the world, love of money, love of this present evil age, love of pleasure that causes people to disobey God.
LOVE is the fundamental trait in a living and faithful relationship with God. If we love Him, we will be faithful to Him. Now abide hope, faith and love, and the greatest of these is love.
Any and all broken relationships with God are the result of love gone astray. Remember, the church at Ephesus (symbolically the first century church) was guilty of leaving its FIRST LOVE. Remember, LOVE is the fulfilling of the law. Remember, men shall know we are His disciples because we LOVE one another.
We know what state our relationship is with God, based on our LOVE relationship we have with God.
I realize some folks would argue that the core and basic attribute of God is either holiness or eternality or asceity, or wisdom or knowledge or truth or something else. I am not arguing against those traits as much as I am focusing on the importance of Divine love, as it relates to God's relationship with mankind.
I think it is fair to say that God did not create the human race out of necessity or out of wisdom or holiness or any of the other traits mentioned, as much as He did because of Love. God created Adam and the human race because He wanted to share His love with others. God gave Adam a help-meet because He loved Adam. He gave Adam the Garden because He loved Him. He gave Adam a hope for salvation because He loved him. He gave His only Begotten Son because He loved Adam and the human race.
The love of the Father is what sent Jesus to the Cross and it is the love of the Son that took Jesus to the Cross. The Holy Spirit imparts love, pours out love to believers. It is love for God that causes believers to obey and serve God.
It is love for self, love for the world, love of money, love of this present evil age, love of pleasure that causes people to disobey God.
LOVE is the fundamental trait in a living and faithful relationship with God. If we love Him, we will be faithful to Him. Now abide hope, faith and love, and the greatest of these is love.
Any and all broken relationships with God are the result of love gone astray. Remember, the church at Ephesus (symbolically the first century church) was guilty of leaving its FIRST LOVE. Remember, LOVE is the fulfilling of the law. Remember, men shall know we are His disciples because we LOVE one another.
We know what state our relationship is with God, based on our LOVE relationship we have with God.
