In the beginning then, God, in his Three-ness, broods: “Let us create something!” The word ‘brooding’ implies a triune conversation. John, at the start of his book, says “In the beginning was the word”. “Word”, or “logos” as it was in the original, means word or conversation.
So in the beginning was the conversation ... (please allow me some artistic licence):
“Let us make something on whom we can lavish our love!”
“Let us make something who will be able to pass our love on!”
“If we make such a being, to what extent do we want it to become full of our love and therefore part of who we are?”
“How is it possible for us to create something and not include it fully into our circle of love?”
“What would such a creature need to be like in order to be able to enter our circle of love?”
“What would that mean for us though? What would it cost us in our relationship to allow a created being into our circle of love?”
“Is that not extremely risky? What if they did not want to be part of our love? What would that mean for us? Indeed what would that mean for them?”
“We can never force anyone to receive our love nor to respond to our love. They would always have to have the choice of whether to be part of it or not.”
“What would we do if they really did choose not to be part of our love?”
“That would become the ultimate test of our love! We would have to allow them their choice!”
“At what point do we stop lavishing our love on them if they did choose to reject our love? How far would we go in our longing for them to be part of who we are?”
“If we created them, how could we not do anything and everything in our power to make sure they have every opportunity to become included into our circle of love?”
“If it came to it, I would be prepared to leave the security of this circle and go to them.”
“Do we want to risk that? Is it worth it? Are they worth it?”
God brooded over the idea and counted the cost. Jesus himself comments: ‘Which of you about to start a big project, would not first count the cost to see if he is able to complete the project?’ (Luke 14:28ff) And “for the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12) he agreed it was worth it! You are worth it!
“And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27)
A really interesting way of thinking about it Ulrike. I love that God gave us choice and that he never forces anything, yet longs to lavish his love upon us. It must break his heart when we don't want to return it. Awesome stuff. :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting conversation! A cerative way to explain the reality of Ephesians 1:4-5 "He chose us in him BEFORE THE CREATION OF THIS WORLD ... In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ..."
ReplyDeleteI like it.
Renate