The heart of the matter is love.
Love as a way of living and being - not feelings or emotion but choosing based upon a foundational principle that governs how one thinks and lives.
Love - covenant love, chesed - is the central, defining element in the character of God (Exodus 34:6-7). Such love is steadfast, that is, it never fluctuates or waivers. It is faithful. It never gives up on or abandons those God loves. God abounds in, overflows with such love. God's covenant love extends to the thousandth generation - a Hebrew phrase meaning "never ending."
The apostle Paul recognized love as the heart of God. Paul wrote, "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God's love underlies God's work of salvation - accepting us unconditionally (justification, Romans 3:21-5:2), transforming us (sanctification, Romans 5:1-8:17), conforming us to the likeness of Christ (perfecting grace, Romans 8:18-39). Paul ended his description of salvation by asserting that nothing "in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).
The Johannine community said it most simply: "God is love" (1 John 4:8). The author described this love as self-giving and other-centered. "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him" (1 John 4:9). Such love seeks the wellbeing of the beloved. It is unconditional - given freely and lavishly out of who God is.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul spoke of the servant nature of God's love. "Though he was in the form of God, (Christ) did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on the cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). In the incarnation, the self-giving nature of God's love was expressed in the Son's self-emptying - giving up his position in the Godhead to become human.
The heart of God is self-giving, servant love that seeks the wholeness of those whom God loves.
Thus, the heart of the matter is love. Any religious position or belief that does not align with God's nature of self-giving, servant love, with God's steadfast, faithful love is not of God. As the writer of 1 John said, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).
Love is the bottom line for God.
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