Wilferd Peterson visited a mosque where a religious leader said, “There is no God save Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”
Peterson considered that people have many names for God. Among the Hindus, it is Brahma. Jews and Christians call Him Jehovah. Ancient Greeks worshiped Zeus. But is there a universal name for God that will bring all people together?
Approaching the religious leader, he asked, “Would you agree that all men everywhere should think of God as love?” the man’s face lit up. “That’s it! That’s what the whole world needs.” Peterson wrote, “Give God the universal name of Love and we will create a golden cord to tie together the truths of all religions of the world.” Was he right? Absolutely not!
John wrote that God is love (1 John 4:16). But he also recorded Jesus’s words that God must be worshiped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) and that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6). That sets Him above all other gods.
Love is not a name for God; love is God’s nature. He expressed it to the fullest extent when He sent His Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). Only when we accept Christ’s sacrifice for us will we know the love of the one true God that can bind people together. – Dennis J. De Haan
When Jesus gave His life for me,
Enduring all the agony
Upon the cross of Calvary,
He showed the love of God. – Sper
God is love – but love is not God.
- August 5, Vol. 11, Our Daily Bread
For You 