God is Love
Love. There are countless songs written about it. There are scenes in movies that portray it. It’s seen in commercials on television, Tiktoks and Instagram reels. It’s displayed as couples go by holding hands or as elderly spouses help one another cross the street. Love is all around us, and its presence is especially emphasized on Valentine’s Day. Just walk into Target and you’re immediately met with heart-shaped everything and rows of chocolate treats and boxes. The extravagance of Valentine’s Day reveals an underlying desire we all share—to be loved. While giant teddy bears and candlelit dinners are sweet and special, what we all want is to love and be loved in return.
What Is Love?
The love we all desire, however, isn’t ultimately met by another human. Our desire to be loved is met by God. Our ability to love comes from the God who made us, and love would cease to exist if God didn’t exist. Scripture tells us that God does not merely show love, He is love (1 John 4:16). This means that love is who God is. So we can’t truly know love if we don’t know God. And we can’t truly show love to others if we haven’t received God’s love.
How Does God’s Love Affect Us?
Thankfully, God’s love isn’t out of reach. It’s not something that we have to earn. We don’t have to make ourselves “loveable” before God can love us. John tells us this in 1 John 4:10: “Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” ( 1 John 4:10). Isn’t that amazing? God loved us first. And He loved us so much that He gave His Son so that we could be forgiven and brought into a relationship with Him. If we long to experience God’s love, all we have to do is place our faith in Christ and receive the love that comes from His salvation.
Our Response to God’s Love
If we are in Christ, we know God and His love. We are God’s child, and He is our Heavenly Father, and this is a relationship that we will share with Him for all eternity. The relationship we have with the Lord and the love that we have received from Him through Christ fuels our love for Him. When someone we love does something kind or unexpected for us, we want to reciprocate that love. In the same way, God’s love for us motivates our love for Him. We desire to delight in God, to worship and obey Him in light of the love He has displayed for us through Christ. As we love God in this way, our love will overflow and extend to others. John goes on in 1 John 4:11 to say, “Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.” We don’t have the ability to love others the way God loves us on our own. But because we belong to the God of love and have His love in us, we are able to show that love through others by our words and actions. As we respond to the love we have received from Christ by loving others, we become a picture of the gospel to others.
Bible Verses About God’s Love
The more we are in God’s Word, the more we are reminded of God’s love for us. And the more motivated we are to love God and others. So take a moment to meditate on the following verses about God’s love.
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16
“See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!” — 1 John 3:1
“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” — John 15:9–10
“But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:8
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” — Galatians 2:20
On this Valentine’s Day, remember that the deepest love you could ever know is found in Christ. If you don’t know Jesus, consider placing your faith in Him today and receive this love. If you do know Jesus, rest in the love that you have in Him. Let every song on the radio, love story on TV, or heart-shaped sign point you to the God who loves you now and for all eternity.
Additional Resources on God’s Love:
