Love | Daily Devotional

“God is love…”

 1 John 4:16

What does it mean that the LORD- the Creator and Ruler of all things- is love? How are we supposed to think about this? It can be tricky because some people have gotten a picture of “God” as being an abstract, philosophical representation of affection, approval, or enjoyment. An unfortunate implication of this thinking is that “love” becomes synonymous with “God” which leads to many false conclusions. To avoid this, it’s best to remember that attributes go one way; “God is love” is not the same as “Love is God.” It is God who gives the definition and substance to His attributes, not the other way around. 

God is the Ultimate Source and Perfect Exemplar of all the loves we can think about, so it helps to make sure we consider the term beyond the corrupted and insufficient uses we often assign to it. God’s other attributes (like His holiness, moral perfection, etc.) perfectly harmonize with each other; therefore, let’s consider what God’s love truly is. 

God’s love is expressed in action

It is possible for us to enjoy or appreciate things from a distance without real relationship. For God, actively and intimately sustaining all things is intricately and powerfully tied to His love, which is never really done “from afar.” At the very least, God’s love is manifested in countless ways because He sustains all things through His personal involvement in doing so. In a more personal way, followers of Christ see that our salvation is the product of God’s love in action through Jesus’ perfect life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, and glorious ascension. (see John 21:14-16; Romans 2:4; 1 John 4:10)

God’s love is eternal and unchanging

While God’s love is the ultimate source of how we understand love as an emotion, His love is not limited to that. Emotions are often responses to environments and relationships. God’s love, however, is not something that is circumstantial- it is essential to who God is. This is amazing for us because it means that the expressions of God’s love that we learn about, see, and experience are fundamental to Him, not dictated by external situations that He cannot see or control. (see Deuteronomy 10:14-15; Jeremiah 31:2-3; John 15:12)

God’s love is self-reflective

Although it might not be regularly emphasized or articulated, it is good to know and remember that God loves Himself most of all. Everything that He does reflects this because God perfectly knows and enjoys Himself and celebrates this through all that He does. This is displayed by God’s triune nature- the Father, Son, and Spirit fully, perfectly knowing and enjoying each other. If this is true of God, it is not a stretch to think the best thing for all created beings is to truly know and experience God. He gives us the opportunity to be in an authentic, intimate, and abiding relationship with the source of all real loves: God Himself. (see 1 Chronicles 29:14-16; Isaiah 43:6-7; Hebrews 6:13)

We can enjoy God’s love by both resting in it and reflecting it as His people. We can do this by understanding its applications in our lives, within our families, and in how we live in a world that doesn’t yet see, know, or feel God’s love as it has been displayed. As we grow in our knowledge and enjoyment of God’s love, the power of Christ’s call to salvation will inevitably be displayed, ultimately revealing His love to the world that is still longing for redemption.