We have considered what it means to love the Lord. But before we can fully understand our love for God, we need to ask a question:
Who is this God we are called to love?
Scripture does not leave us to construct an idea of God from our own experiences, feelings or expectations. It reveals His character to us. Throughout the Bible, we see a God who is holy, righteous, faithful, merciful, just and good.
And then we encounter one of the most profound statements in Scripture:
“God is love.” – 1 John 4:8
John does not simply say that God loves. He says that God is love.
This does not mean that love is all God is. God is also holy, righteous, just, truthful, and faithful. His love never contradicts these aspects of His character.
Rather, love belongs essentially to who God is.
Love is not something God occasionally demonstrates when circumstances are favourable. It is part of His nature. When God acts in love, He is acting consistently with who He is.
This gives us a different understanding of love.
Love is not simply a feeling, sentimentality, the absence of boundaries, or not agreeing with everything someone does.
Rather, love is rooted in God’s character. It is self-giving, faithful, holy, merciful, sacrificial and transforming.
And the clearest picture of this love is not found in an abstract description. It is found in Jesus Christ.
The God Who Loves Gives Himself
To understand the nature of God’s love, we must look at what He has done.
Romans 5:8 says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Notice the language.
His love is not merely something He says; It is something He does and He demonstrates it towards people who were still sinners.
This is where the Gospel becomes so deeply personal. God’s love was not a response to our perfection. Christ did not die because humanity had made itself worthy of such a sacrifice.
He died while we were still sinners.
The cross reveals a love that moves towards us when we have nothing to offer in return.
John makes the same point in 1 John 4:9-10, explaining that God’s love was revealed by sending His one and only begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through Him.
The cross therefore gives us a window into the very heart of God.
His love is:
- Self-giving: God gives rather than taking for Himself.
- Faithful: His love is not controlled by changing circumstances.
- Holy: His love does not call sin good or ignore what destroys us.
- Merciful: He moves towards sinners with grace.
- Sacrificial: Christ willingly gave Himself for our redemption.
- Transforming: His love does not leave us as we were.
This matters because our understanding of love is often shaped by human experience, which is inconsistent. People can say they love us and later withdraw that love. Relationships can change, affection can become conditional, even promises can be broken.
God’s love is different.
His character does not change, His love is not based on mood, neither is His faithfulness is dependent on our circumstances.
This does not mean we should treat God’s love as permission to remain unchanged. God’s love is holy. It seeks our good, and our ultimate good is found in becoming increasingly conformed to Christ.
God’s love can therefore comfort us and confront us at the same time.
It tells us:
You are deeply loved.
And it also tells us:
Because you are loved, let Me transform you.
There is something beautiful about a love that refuses to abandon us yet refuses to leave us unchanged.
God does not love us because sin does not matter… He loves us enough to deal with sin.
That is what makes the cross so significant.
God’s holiness and love are not competing against one another. The cross reveals the seriousness of sin while displaying the extraordinary depth of God’s grace.
The God who is holy is also the God who gives Himself for sinners.
The God who judges rightly is the God who provides redemption.
The God who is just is the God who extends mercy.
This is the God we are called to love.
The Love We Receive Becomes the Love We Give
God’s love does not stop with what He has done for us, it changes us.
1 John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us.”
Our love begins with His.
We do not manufacture love for God through sheer effort. We respond to the love He has already shown us.
This connects directly with the previous reflection on loving the Lord. We love God because He first loved us. His love becomes the foundation for our devotion, obedience and surrender.
But John’s message goes further. If we have received God’s love, that love should begin to shape how we treat other people. 1 John 4:11 says that since God loved us in this way, we ought to love one another.
That means God’s love cannot remain an idea we admire, it must become something we practise.
This is where the nature of God’s love challenges us. If His love is:
- self-giving, what does that mean for our selfishness?
- faithful, what does that mean for our commitment to others?
- merciful, what does that mean for the way we respond to someone’s failure?
- holy, what does that mean for the boundaries we maintain?
- sacrificial, what are we willing to give?
- transforming, what still needs to change in us?
Understanding that God is love should affect the way we speak, forgive, serve, correct, encourage and relate to people.
We must remember not to redefine love according to whatever feels comfortable. If we separate love from God’s holiness and truth, we create a version of love that Scripture does not recognise.
Jesus demonstrated compassion towards sinners, but He never celebrated sin.
He welcomed people, but He also called them to repentance.
He forgave, but He also told people to leave their old ways behind.
This is the tension we sometimes struggle to hold: God’s love is incredibly gracious, but it is never morally indifferent.
His love tells the truth, protects what is good, confronts what destroys, forgives, restores, and transforms.
This is why love cannot simply mean being agreeable or avoiding difficult conversations. Sometimes love requires truth, correction, patience, and sacrifice.
And sometimes love means staying when leaving would be easier. We see all of this most clearly in Christ:
- The Father sends the Son.
- The Son willingly gives Himself.
- The Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ and pours God’s love into the hearts of believers.
The Gospel is therefore not merely a message about something God has done. It reveals who God is.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit reveal the one God whose character is perfectly loving, holy and faithful. God’s love is not an occasional activity added to His nature. It is woven into the revelation of who He is.
And when we encounter that love, we are invited to respond. Not merely with words, but with our lives.
Conclusion
“God is love” tells us something about the God we worship and the God we are called to love.
His love is self-giving, faithful, holy, merciful, sacrificial and transforming. And nowhere is this love revealed more clearly than in Jesus Christ.
Receiving His love should also change the way we love others.
The question is therefore not only, “Do I know that God loves me?”
It is also: “Is the love I have received from God becoming visible in the way I live?”
The God we are called to love is the God who has first loved us.
And when we begin to understand the nature of that love, our response can only be to know Him more deeply, love Him more completely and allow His love to shape the people we are becoming.