God is Love by Susan L.

  Part of our homework for church is to ask people what they think "God is Love" means.
  It's a tough question. Human love is broken, imperfect. It's hard to wrap our head around perfect love because, let's face it folks, the devil doesn't want us to.
  He wants to keep us apart and squabbling because relationship  and community are the devil's enemies. He wants our wounded love to embitter us. He wants broken hearts to stay broken. He wants nothing to do with trust and honour and loyalty and devotion. Kindness, compassion, empathy, and caring have no place in his vocabulary. Generosity and giving are choked by fear. Fear keeps us boxed in and isolated which takes me back to relationships and community.
  Before I came to know Jesus as my saviour, I always threw back the question to believers who were trying to share their faith, "If God is love, why does He let such terrible things happen?"
  Adam, Eve and the story of Eden is often held up to enforce judgment on the sinful ways of men. Women in particular bear the brunt of having eaten the apple first. This story has been used to enforce male power and women's subjugation. Again, it's the devil breaking relationships that has created such chaos in society.
  Eve made a choice but so did Adam. God gave us free will to choose our path. Choices come with consequences. God doesn't punish us for our sinful ways, He merely allows the consequences of our choices to unfold.
  But the best part of the story, once Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, was a special and incredibly tender act of God. He clothed their nakedness, covering their shame. He taught them how to do this for themselves by killing an animal. And so began the journey to Jesus, when God came down in human form to restore our relationship with Him.
  As for the terrible things of this world, it isn't guns killing people. It's people killing people. It's the result of choice: the choice to make a weapon, the choice to aim it at someone, the choice to pull the trigger.
  Still, there is love in this world. It's everywhere. Once in a while, we get a glimpse of the type of love God has for us. When someone holds open a door, it is love in action.
  I encourage you embrace Jesus as your Saviour. Open the door to "God is Love." It will never be closed again.
  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Jn 3:16-17