I think it was appropriate that I used the words of Jesus to address the question of who the children of God are. It would be presumptuous of me to answer. But as a recipient of God's love, I think it is totally appropriate for me to proclaim for myself that God is Love. This is as I have lived it. This is ONLY my story. But it is my story.
I like to go back packing solo in the wilderness. I like to have it be just me, and God, and creation. Some people think for a seventy plus man that is perhaps dangerous. Perhaps foolish. I think it is a powerful way for me to learn of God's love. When I am in the wilderness I am aware that God is with me. 24/7. I could claim that God keeps me safe from the bears. Perhaps. But if some day I get eaten by the bears, it will not diminish one iota my belief that God is love. Because when God speaks to me, in the wilderness, he does not say look at my wonderful creation. I did it out of vanity. No, he says, look at my wonderful creation. I did it out of love. And so I believe. He has done nothing rote. He has done nothing in a hurry just to get on with it. He has taken way more than 7 days at it. Even if I call it God time.
When I look with God on creation, I can imagine no power short of love that can explain it. Every blade of grass, every flower, every tree, every lake, every rock, EVERYTHING is perfect. Not as in "Has no blemish", but as in "the thought has been completed". And that gives me tremendous hope. Hope that the thought for me was also perfect. That perhaps I can, with time be able to say, "the thought was completed."
If you find yourself thinking, "What a strange way to talk about love!", I agree. As a child, I had a very loving mother, and a very loving father. But we were not a church family. As a young man, I married a very loving wife, and together we started a very loving young family. But I still would not claim to have known anything about the love of God. Before I was 10 I had a pretty good comprehension of the form and scope of the universe. Genisis was never going to be anything but a good fairy tale, and that judgement was extended to the rest of the Bible as well. So yes, my first real understanding of God's love I learned from the wilderness.
While I honestly think it was creation that got my attention, certainly people have then stepped up and shown me a much broader and more human view of love.
Love is nothing short of a miracle. Love is in direct opposition to ego. It is in direct opposition to the box we call ME. Love is outward directed. Me is inward directed. How is that? Science may say it is just the result of evolution. It was what best kept us alive. For me, that may well be, but it is still a miracle and it is still God. Call it circular logic if you like, but I will still call it God, and I will still worship it.
I like Jesus' explanation. He tells us that IF we are willing to be LOVE, then he and the Father will come abide within us, and they will give us the the power and the will to take the actions needed before us.
GOD IS LOVE