Several years ago, I was invited to speak at a retreat being held at an out of the way facility in east Tennessee. Because the retreat didn’t officially begin until Saturday morning, and also because I couldn’t get away until late in the afternoon, I found myself weaving through the hills after dark, and eventually arriving at the facility later than I thought I would.

I couldn’t see too much of what was around me, so I focused on finding my way to the small cottage where I was to stay, went inside, and promptly fell asleep. The next morning, I opened the door to head to breakfast and was confronted immediately with…

A llama.

Right by the front porch.

In retrospect, there was probably a long list of things that wouldn’t have surprised me that morning – things I expected to see. Things like other cottages, campers, maybe a fire ring and certainly some rolling hills, but not a llama. It was out of place. Out of context. Something that didn’t seem to belong where it was. And that’s sort of what John was trying to communicate about God’s love in 1 John 3. Here’s the text in several versions: 

• See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (NIV).
• See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God (ESV).
• Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God (KJV).

Though it’s translated in different ways (great, what kind, what manner), John wasn’t just communicated the depth and breadth of God’s love with that phrase; he was communicating something about its nature. The phrase, as John wrote it, has a quality of “strangeness” to it. You might translate it as other-worldly. Or bizarre. Or out of place. 

A little like a llama on a porch.

The idea is that this love of God doesn’t fit with its surroundings. It’s something that doesn’t seem to belong. And when we think about our own history with love, that begins to make sense. We are accustomed to love with strings. Love with conditions. Love that comes and goes. Love with limits. But when we come to the love of God we find something completely different.

We don’t find a God who loves “if…” or a God who loves “when…” or a God who loves “as long as…” We find a God who loves because it is His very nature to do so. See with all of those conditional kinds of love, the origin of the feeling that passes for love is the object. As long as the object is deemed worthy, then the love continues. But God’s love is different.

Unlike our own experience with what passes for love around these parts, God’s love finds its origins in Himself. He loves us not because we are particularly lovable; He loves us because He is love. And that is very good news. It’s good news because we know, deep in our hearts, that we are not lovable. Not really. Or at least not permanently. But God never changes. His character is as sure and certain as the very fabric of the universe. This is the source of His love, and because it is, we can rest securely in it.

What manner of love indeed.

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This article originally appeared at thinke.org.