"God is love..."

1 John 4:16b

What comes to mind when you hear the word, "trademark"? The stylized red waves of Coke? The red, white and blue of Pepsi? The golden arches of McDonald's? The "Like A Rock" of Chevy? The "zoom-zoom" of Mazda? The Nike 'swoosh?"

Trademarks should be simple, clear and easily remembered. They should serve four main purposes. The first is to identify a product's origin or ownership. Next, they should highlight values or distinctiveness. They also should transmit messages dealing with genuineness and quality. And lastly, they should inspire confidence in the consumer, assuring them that they are getting the real thing.

Did you know that God has a "trademark" too? In fact, it is a "designer trademark." The very best minds in the universe — those great advertising moguls called the Trinity Group (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) came up with the design. God's "trademark" is truly unique, totally awesome and wonderfully brilliant. It is so uncomplicated that a child can understand it and adults can emulate it.

His trademark is love. And we, his followers, have been chosen to bear his divine logo to the world around us. We are to present it through our thoughts, words and actions.

However, sometimes we give a false representation of God's love. Through bitterness, jealousy, prejudice, pride, arrogance and ignorance, we can present a tarnished trademark.

Consider the fish in an aquarium. Let's assume they are normally community fish. In other words, as a general rule they get along fairly well. By nature they are all considered semi-aggressive. They can be friendly for hours, days, even weeks at a time, then for no apparent reason turn on one another and destructively "nip" at each other. It is not uncommon to one sad day find one fish hiding in the corner with its tail and dorsal fins chewed up, starving to death. They can't help it; it's in their nature.

If we are honest with ourselves, we are all too often like that. With the best of intention we strive to get along and live in community as families, friends, co-workers, congregations and neighbors. Then for no apparent reason at all — or perhaps for a bona fide one — any one of us at any given time can be found devouring another as we vent our hurt, anger and frustration. The tragic result is often relational death and destruction. But it is in our nature. We can't help it — or can we?

As you journey through life, I invite you to travel with God's "trademark" of love upon you. All you need do is to ask him. He will take care of the rest. The love that God offers is a love that will infect and affect your very nature. It will transform the little larcenies of your soul into sincere expressions of affection. When your heart has been touched by his love, everything inside you will change — your attitudes, desires, egos and dreams. You no longer have to devour others. You can choose how you will treat them — with love or with venom. God's love: Don't leave home without it!

As always, see you next time and have a great day.

The Rev. Carl S. Mesiti is pastor of Niedringhaus United Methodist Church in Granite City. ۬