The combined Sunday school class our church this summer is What to talk about when you talk about God. A couple of weekends ago someone asked how we begin to explain the origins of sin, evil, and pain in the
world. Strange as it may seem, I think the answer lies in the vulnerable
quality of God's love.
In her book Daring Greatly Sociologist Brene
Brown defines vulnerability as "uncertainty, risk, and emotional
exposure." Brown says vulnerability is akin to genuine love. Love that is
sincere, not coercive or manipulative, is uncertain. It's risky because genuine
love is exposed to the real possibility of not being loved in return. It is
"Loving someone who may, or may not, love us back… who may stay in our
lives or may leave us on a moment's notice, who may be loyal to the day we die
or betray us tomorrow." (Daring Greatly, page 33).
This is the kind of love with which God loves us. John writes in his epistle, "We love
because [God] first loved us." (1 John 4:19) In his Gospel, John describes
the emotional vulnerability of God's love toward us in Christ: "He came to
that which was his own but his own did not receive him." (John 1:11) In
love, God willingly exposed himself to this rejection.
God could've created a kind of world that was compelled
to obedience. God could've created a world free from chaos and disorder - a
world where humans were obliged to robotic compliance. Instead God chose the
messiness of genuine love. In infinite sovereignty God created a world of risk
and freedom where one can choose (or not) to love the One who first loved us.
