By Greg Daley

Question: "What does it mean that God is love?"

Answer: First we will look at how God's Word, the Bible, describes "love," and then we will see a few ways that it applies to God and to us, as his sons & daughters

I Corinthians 13
Love Suffers Long – having patience with imperfect people.
Love is Kind – active in doing good.
Love does not Envy – since it is not possessive and noncompetitive, it actually wants other people to get ahead.
Love does not parade itself – love has a self-effacing quality.
Love is not puffed up – does not treat others arrogantly.
Love does not behave rudely – but displays good manners and courtesy.
Love does not seek its own – does not insist on its own rights or demand precedence.
Love is not provoked – it is not irritable, touchy, rough or hostile, but is graceful under pressure.
Love thinks no evil – does not keep an account of wrongs done to it
Love does not rejoice in iniquity – does not find satisfaction in the shortcomings of others or spread an evil report.
Love rejoices in the truth - aggressively advertising the good.
Love bears all things – defending and holding other people up.
Love believes all things – the best about others, credits them with good intentions and is not suspicious.
Love hopes all things – never giving up on people, but affirming their future.
Love endures all things – persevering and remaining loyal to the end.

This is God's description of love. This is what He is like and as his children we are to make this our goal, (although always in the process). The greatest expression of God's love is communicated to us in John 3:16 and Romans 5:8. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him (Jesus Christ), will not perish but have everlasting life." "God demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We can see from these verses that it is God's greatest desire that we join Him in His eternal home, heaven. He has made the way possible by paying the price for our sins. He loves us because He chose to, as an act of His will. "My heart is stirred inside me. It is filled with pity for you" (Hosea 11:8b). Love forgives. "If we admit we have sinned (specifics), He will forgive us our sins. He will forgive every wrong thing we have done. He will make us pure" (1 John 1:9).

Love (God) does not force Himself on anyone. Those who come to Him do so in response to His love. Love (God) shows kindness to all. Love (Jesus) went about doing good to everyone without partiality. Love (Jesus) did not covet what others had, living a humble life without complaining. Love (Jesus) did not brag about who He was in the flesh, although He could have overpowered anyone He ever came in contact with. Love (God) does not demand obedience. God did not demand obedience from His Son, but rather, Jesus willingly obeyed His Father in heaven. "They must learn that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do" (John 14:31). Love (Jesus) was/is always looking out for the interests of others.

This short description of love reveals a selfless life, in contrast with the selfish life of the natural man.

When you study the Bible, it can be insightful to find when a word is first mentioned in the Bible. The first time the word love is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 22:2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love , and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."

This of course is a beautiful prophetic picture of Father God giving up his own son for us. Some Bible teachers have suggested that this selfless act of love by Abraham may have actually paved the way for God to legally enter human affairs because of His covenant with Abraham. God gave this planet to man; man committed high treason and gave it over to the devil. The devil became the god of this world and so God could not take it back illegally or by force. God needed legal authority to intervene and take back what Adam had given to the devil in order to give it back to man but he had to do that as a man who could live like us, yet without sin and who would die in our place. So God entered into covenant with a man called Abraham. When Abraham gave up his son, and God gave up his, the door was open for a Savior to be born of the seed of Abraham.

What is also amazing to me is that the last time the word love is used is found in Rev 12:11-12, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Here, at the end of the Bible, we have the word love used in a selfless act again. It is the Greek word agape, which is the essence of Christ-like love: selfless and unconditional love. We, as God’s people made in his image and likeness, are selflessly willing to lay down our soul lives for Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Amazingly, God has given those who receive His Son Jesus as their personal Savior from sin, the ability to love as He does, through the power of the Holy Spirit (see John 1:12; 1 John 3:1, 23, 24). What a challenge and privilege!