Wells sat at the kitchen table while his mom stirred a pot of soup, watching the steam curl into the air. He had been thinking hard about something all afternoon. “Mom,” he finally asked, resting his chin in his hands, “what color is love?” His mother smiled at the question and turned off the stove, pulling out a chair beside him. She told him love wasn’t just one color—it was all kinds of colors depending on how you see it. “Love can be red when it’s strong and brave,” she said, “like when someone protects you. It can be warm gold like sunshine when someone makes you feel safe. It can be soft blue when someone listens to you, and gentle green when someone helps you grow.”
Wells thought about this quietly, imagining love as a bright painting made of many shades blending together. His mom brushed his hair back and added, “But if I had to choose one color, I’d say love looks like whatever color your heart needs most at the moment.” Wells looked at her, noticing the warmth in her eyes and the comfort of her smile, and decided that love, at least right then, looked like the warm amber glow of the kitchen light and the feeling of his mother’s hand holding his.
What does God look like?
Well first of all, God isn’t an old man with a white beard up in the sky tossing lightning bolts down on us.
John 4:24 a
God is Spirit…
God is Spirit—not a body, not a face, and not a shape. You can’t take a picture of Him. But remember, “spirit” doesn’t mean ghost or wispy fog. It means a reality beyond what we can see with our eyes.
John 1:18
No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
We can’t see God with our eyes but Jesus shows us exactly what God is like, and we can see that with our hearts and with the Spirit that God has put inside us.
John 14:9 b
…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus in the Bible – not what he may have looked like physically, but what kind of person He was, and is — His love and compassion, His power and His mercy.
When God Comes To Live With Us
One day, God will once again live with us on earth. It’s possible that then we will be able to see more of His glory—more of what He “looks like.”
Revelation 21:1-5
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Until then, we look at Jesus… and we see the heart of God.
Until then, we should be busy finding ways to plug into God’s grand plan right now, today. That means doing things and living our daily lives in ways that make our own dreams come true and God’s dream for us a reality.
That’s what we’ll start digging into next.
Child of God, husband, father, grandfather, rabblerouser, songwriter, pot stirrer, waiting for the King.