God is the essence and source of love. The Bible describes God's love through His sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to save humanity from sin. As the greatest expression of love, God gave His only Son so that all may have eternal life through faith in Him. Additionally, God's love is perfect and without end, as shown through the qualities of love described in 1 Corinthians 13. Since God is love, He created humans with the ability to love as well, through His gift of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

1. What does it mean that God is Love? – 9th
November 2016
“Whoeverdoes not lovedoes not know God,because Godislove” (1 John 4:8)
Let’slookat howthe Bible describeslove,andthenwe will see afew waysinwhichGodisthe essence
of love.Thisword“love”ismentionedinverymanywaysinthe worldtoday.Therefore letuslookat
one way the bible describesLove aswe findin 1 Corinthians13:4-8, “Love is patient,love iskind. It
does not envy, it doesnot boast,it is not proud.It isnot rude, it is not self-seeking,itis not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.Love doesnot delightin evil butrejoices with the truth. It
alwaysprotects, alwaystrusts, alwayshopes,alwaysperseveres. Love never fails…”.ThisisGod's
descriptionof love,andbecause Godislove andthisiswhatHe islike. “Whoeverdoesnot love doesnot
know God,becauseGod islove” (1 John4:8).
The greatestexpressionof God'slove iscommunicatedtousin John3:16: “ForGodso lovedthe world
that he gave his one andonlySon, that whoever believes inhim shall notperish but have eternal life.”
Againwe can learn the same message inRomans5:8,“But Goddemonstrateshis ownlove for us in this:
Whilewe were still sinners,Christdied for us”.EvenwhenJesusknew we wouldfail andevenbefore
we were born,He gave Hislife asthe ultimate expressionof Hislove. We cansee fromthese versesthat
it isGod's greatestdesire thatwe joinHim inHis eternal home,heaven.He hasmade the waypossible
by payingthe price forour sins.He lovesusbecause He chose to as an act of His Love for us. Love
forgives. We canlearnfrom 1 John 1:9, “Ifwe confess our sins,he is faithful andjustand will forgive us
our sinsand purifyus fromall unrighteousness”.
As the omnipresentGodwhoLoves us,He doesnotforce Himself onanyone.Those whobelieveand
come to Him do soin response toHislove andour ownlove forHim.God showsLove and kindnesstoall
whocome to himinfaith.JesusChrististhe veryauthorof Love.ThroughHis Love forus, Jesuswent
aboutdoinga multitude of goodtoeveryone duringHisministryhere onearth.He didnotdesire what
othershad,but wasborn a lowlystable andlivedahumble lifewithoutcomplaining.Jesusdidnotbrag
aboutwho He was inthe flesh,althoughHe couldhave overpoweredanyoneHe evercame incontact
with.JesuswillinglyobeyedHisFathereventoHissacrificial deathtosave usfrometernal damnation.
Because He wantedus to know: “Theworld must learnthat I lovethe Father andthat I do exactly what
my Father has commandedme” (John 14:31).
God does not only give love; He is the sourceof love. As the Creator of all things He is the One who created love. It
isbecause of His love thatwe are able to love others.We canlearnthisfrom 1 John 4:19, "We love
because he first lovedus." The fullestexpressionof Godas love wasthroughthe Son, JesusChrist.God
createdus,sustainsus,and has revealedHimself tousthroughJesus. “TheWordbecame flesh and
made hisdwellingamongus. Wehave seen hisglory,the gloryof the one and onlySon,who came
from the Father, full ofgrace andtruth. (John1:14). We needtoknow that God islove.He createdlove,
createdus to love Him,andhas extendedHislove toeachof us. All we needtodo isto believeandhave
faithinChristas one’ssaviour,acceptthe free giftof salvationgiventous throughHis greatlove forus:
“Forit is by grace you have been saved, throughfaith—andthisisnot fromyourselves,it is the gift of
God— 9
notby works, so that noone can boast”(Ephesians2:8-9).It iswhenwe accept andreceive His
Love deepino our heartsthat we may experience Hislove inour daytoday livestoday.Whenthe evil
one constantlytriestodistance usfrom the presence of God,JesusChrist came downto save us: “The
thief comesonly to steal andkill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,and have it to the
full” (John10:10).

2. Amongthe most famousof Bible passagesonlove isfoundin 1 Corinthians13. These versesgive usa
picture of God's love expressedinpoetictermsthatdisplaysmanyof the aspectsof God's love toward
us. Since as Christianswe knowthatGod and Love are synonymous,we canlearnthatGods love forus
will neverend. "Loveispatientand kind;love does not envy or boast;it is not arrogantor rude. It does
not insiston itsown way; it is not irritableor resentful; it doesnot rejoice at wrongdoing,butrejoices
with the truth. Love bears all things,believesall things,hopes all things,endures all things.Love never
ends."(1Corinthians13:4-8).
So,what doesitmeanthat God is love? We can learnthe answerwhenwe readthispassage from John
3:16, “For Godso lovedthe worldthat he gave his one andonly Son,that whoever believes inhim
shall not perishbut have eternal life”. Love isan attribute of God whichisthe core aspect of God’s
character. God’slove isinno sense inconflictwithHisholiness,righteousness,justice,orevenHis
wrath.All of God’s attributesare inperfectharmony.EverythingGoddoesisloving,justaseverything
He doesisjust,fare and right.God isthe perfectexample of true love.Amazingly,Godhasgiventhose
whoreceive HisSonJesusastheirpersonal Saviorthe abilitytolove asHe does,throughthe powerof
the HolySpirit.
We can learnthat as Christianswhohave faithinJesusChristasoursaviour,we are privilegedaswe
learnfromJohn 1:12, “Yet to all who didreceive him,to those who believedin hisname, he gave the
right to become childrenof God…” We can alsolearn from1 John3:1, “See what great love the Father
has lavishedonus, that we shouldbe calledchildrenof God!And that iswhat we are! The reason the
world doesnot know us isthat it did not know him”. Like manyteachingsfromthe bible,we mustbear
inmindthat as Christianswe needtoshare Gods awareness, love,goodness,compassionandmany
otherbenefitsthatGodavailsforus… If we keepitto ourselveswithoutenhancing thisawareness
amongas manyas we can, thenhe or she failsHim. We can learnfrom 1 John 4:16, “Andso we know
and rely on the love Godhasfor us. Godis love. Whoeverlivesin love livesin God,andGod inthem”