Okay, here we go.
The God is love verse, straight up 1 John 4:8, has been haunting me lately, like in the most inconvenient ways. I’m sitting in this dingy Airbnb in Tulsa right now, window unit rattling like it’s about to die, Whataburger cup sweating on the nightstand, and that verse keeps popping into my head uninvited. Not the pretty calligraphy version either, more like the one I scrawled in Sharpie on the back of a speeding ticket in 2021 when I was convinced God had ghosted me for good. https://overviewbible.com/1-john-4-8/
Why the God Is Love Verse Feels Impossible Some Days
Look, I grew up in the Bible Belt where everybody and their grandma has this verse on a throw pillow, but nobody actually believes it when life gets ugly. I definitely didn’t. Last winter I was unemployed, my dog died, and I yelled at God in an empty church parking lot because “God is love” felt like the cruelest joke ever joke. Like bro, where? Because all I felt was radio silence and overdraft fees.
And yet… here I am still chewing on the same God is love verse like it’s the only piece of gum left in the pack.
That Time I Ugly-Cried Over Waffle Pecan Batter
True story, swear on everything. 3 a.m., Waffle House off I-35, I’m three coffees deep and scrolling X like a zombie when some rando quotes the verse. I don’t know what broke in me, maybe the sleep deprivation, maybe the fact that the waitress called me “hon” three times, but I started bawling into my hashbrowns. Full-on snot crying. The cook came out and just slid a new coffee over without a word. That felt more like the God is love verse than any sermon I’ve ever heard. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-is-love
Okay But What Does “God Is Love” Even Mean When People Suck?
Here’s where I always get stuck. The verse doesn’t say God has love or God feels love sometimes when we’re good. It says God IS love. Period. Which means love isn’t just something He does, it’s His entire operating system.
I hate that. Because it means I can’t earn it when I’m awesome and I can’t lose it when I’m a trainwreck (and trust me, I’ve tested this theory extensively). Last month I ghosted my mom, maxed out another credit card, and ate gas-station sushi, three sins in 24 hours, and woke up the next morning still… loved? Brain-breaking. https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-love.html
How I Accidentally Started Believing the God Is Love Verse Again
- Stopped arguing with it (shocking strategy, I know)
- Started noticing the tiny stupid ways love shows up: the barista who remembers my dumb order, the sunset that looks fake but isn’t, the fact that my piece-of-junk car still starts in Minnesota winter
- Let myself be loved while actively being a mess instead of waiting till I “get it together” (spoiler: never happening)
Final Rambling Thoughts at 1:17 a.m. Central Time
I still don’t fully get the God is love verse. Probably never will this side of heaven. But it’s moved from the “cute throw-pillow lie” category to the “thing that keeps me from driving into a ditch on bad days” category, so… progress? https://biblehub.com/commentaries/1_john/4-8.htm
If you’re reading this and you’re in the trenches, like, “yeah whatever” camp with this verse, I get it. I lived there for years. But maybe try sitting with it anyway. Read it out loud in your car. Write it on a receipt. Let it ruin you a little.
Because the wild part? The God is love verse isn’t waiting for you to feel worthy. It just… is.
Anyway. I’m gonna go heat up this cold Whataburger now. Drop your own messy stories below, I read every single comment, even the mean ones.
Much love (apparently whether I deserve it or not Some random American still figuring it out
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