Reflecting back on last month, in which we celebrated Valentine’s Day, I find myself thinking of God’s Love. The Bible tells us that God’s love is enduring, everlasting, steadfast, and unwavering. It is given to us freely. It is unconditional … not earned.
What an assurance!
God is Love
1 John 4:7-8 (NIV) Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This verse leaves no room for doubt, my friend! John is very straight forward. God does not just have love or show love, GOD IS LOVE.
However, this verse also makes it clear that love is not optional for us as believers. If we do not love, then we do not really know God. John’s words of “love one another” issue a command that is at the center of our relationship with God. Love, then, is an action that strengthens not only our relationships with one another but also with God. This command is also confirmed for us in Mark.
Mark 12:30 (NKJV) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
God’s Love for Us
For many of us, one of the first memory verses we learned was John 3:16.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16.
Friends, this is not just a memory verse that we learned just so we could rattle it off without giving it a second thought. This verse is the fundamental core of our Christian belief, and it centers fully around God’s Love.
God showed the ultimate love for us all when he sent His son, Jesus, to die on the cross for all of our sins from now into eternity.
If we look back in 1 John where we left off, John explains this love once more and also reiterates that we are to love one another.
1 John 4:9-11 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
He gave His son, and Jesus willingly gave His life, so that we would have the opportunity to believe and live eternally with Him in heaven. We did not ask for this love, He gave it willingly and without us even knowing we needed it. In response, we are called as part of this command to also love one another.
In fact, John 13:34 and John 15:12 give us direct command from Jesus to “love each other as I have loved you.” Wow, that is quite the heavy command seeing as God made the ultimate sacrifice for us, a world of sin and sinners.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Agape Love
This love, God’s love for us, is known as agape love, which refers to an unconditional love, a love that will not change no matter what we do. It is a Love that is pure and without fault, a love that is eternal. Agape love is sacrificial and unequivocally selfless. It is the highest form of love.
1 Corinthians 13 is a whole chapter of the Bible that is devoted to love. In this chapter of Corinthians, Paul lists out the qualities of love as “love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
This well-known list is summed up in the final verse.
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
This great Love Chapter of the Bible was penned by Paul and portrays the enduring nature of God’s love. His love endures forever, and we are assured of that throughout the Bible!!
Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Command to Love
One of the greatest commandments to us as believers is to love. We are commanded to love one another and to love God. The Bible even tells us in Matthew 5: 43-44 to love our enemies. But, maybe we should save that discussion for another day. For now, we can rest in the assurance that God is Love and …
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.
I know I’ve shared a lot of Scripture here, but that alone tells the story — love matters deeply to God. It’s woven through every page, every promise, every reminder that we belong to Him, and it is imperative that we keep these verses close to our hearts. Write them down and lay them all out on the table for study and meditation.
The truth is, we have never done anything to earn the kind of love God has for us — and we never could. His love isn’t a reward for good behavior or a prize for getting it all right. It’s a gift. Freely given. Steady. Unchanging.
God’s love was never something we had to earn or chase. He doesn’t ask us to strive for it. He simply invites us to believe it… and receive it. It has always been here, steady and faithful. In the quiet moments and the chaotic ones, His love remains.
All we have to do is believe and accept His love.
So today, let your heart rest there. Let go of the pressure to measure up. Open your hands and your heart and accept the love that has always been yours in Christ. 💗 God’s love is personal. Intentional. Near. And as we gather at His Table — in prayer, in Scripture, in community — we are reminded that we are fully known and fully loved. May the knowledge of that love draw you back to Him again and again — because His love never runs out.
In Love,
