The Love Paradigm is like a new set of eye glasses that alter slightly the way we see things. Worldview can be defined as a collection of intellectual, emotional and / or spiritual paradigms that are based upon beliefs about the world, about reality, about truth. These paradigms are like a skeletal system (gives organization and shape to the body to live and function within the world) through which the experiences of life are processed and organized, forming a way of seeing the world.4 In this manner worldview is akin to a computer operating system, it provides a means of understanding / interpreting information and situations. Worldview is influenced by our family, by our culture, by the type and level of our education, and by our socioeconomic reality.
Through the lens of love, or a worldview of love how we see God, others and ourselves can change significantly and in many cases bring deep healing within ourselves and relationships with others. The following is a quick introduction to the Love Paradigm from my book "Becoming Love: Avoiding Common Forms of Christian Insanity".
I have been apprehended by what I have come to call the Love Paradigm. The Love Paradigm is a way of seeing, like lenses in eye glasses. It is a worldview which seeks to see and interpret life through the lenses of divine love; to walk, to live from a posture of love in every aspect of life – the kind of love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13; the kind of love Jesus would demonstrate by giving His life as a cure for the plague of sin which has ravaged creation.
The Love Paradigm heals our relationship with God. It allows us to see Him as a loving, involved, caring God who Himself is the source of love with no duplicity. The Love Paradigm views ourselves and others through the eyes of perfect love, not a sappy sentimentality, illusions of grandeur or “rose colored glasses,” but honestly and realistically, knowing that love changes everything, love heals and love reconciles. Love values healthy relationships and community and spills over and out of lives to life around it. Love hopes, love covers shame, love makes beautiful and love restores.
The Love Paradigm is a foundational life changing paradigm, a new way of being human. It shapes our response to the situations we encounter personally in our daily lives and those events which impact us all on a global scale. It dramatically shifts the way in which we see, relate within and form community. The Love Paradigm renovates the way we understand and approach leadership, mission and spiritual formation. It embraces the very heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which by its very nature is scandalous and overtly confrontational to the dehumanizing power structures of the world. It is a paradigm where foolishness confounds worldly wisdom, where weakness triumphs over power, life conquers death, where mercy rescues justice from revenge, where the least are the greatest, and leaders are servants to all. It is a paradigm where success is demonstrated by our love, not by how much we own and control. It is a paradigm where love itself is its own reward. Through and in and by love we find the freedom to truly be who we are created to be and we find rest.
