What is Love?
Understanding God’s Love: Origins, Revelation, and Practice
Love is one of the most discussed yet misunderstood concepts in human history. While popular culture and personal interpretations offer various definitions, true understanding of love comes from its divine source.
Where Does True Love Come From?
Love originates from God Himself. Unlike human interpretations that can be selfish or incomplete, God’s love is supernatural and sacrificial. This divine love is most clearly demonstrated through Jesus’s death on the cross.
While non-believers can express love (as all humans are created in God’s image), true love must include God as its supreme object. All of God’s activities – from creation to judgment – are loving activities, making love not just something God does, but an essential part of His nature.
How Was God’s Love Revealed to Us?
God revealed His love through Jesus Christ, His unique and one-of-a-kind Son. This wasn’t just about sending Jesus to live among us – it was about sending Him to die for us. The concept of “propitiation” (turning away God’s wrath through an offering) shows the depth of this love. Unlike temporary sacrifices in Jewish tradition, Jesus’s sacrifice permanently satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
What Makes Jesus’s Sacrifice Different?
- It was permanent rather than temporary
- It was complete rather than partial
- It was divine rather than human
- It reconciled us to God perfectly
How Should Believers Practice Love?
For Christians, loving others isn’t optional – it’s essential. Just as love is part of God’s nature, it should be part of every believer’s nature. When we truly know God, His love becomes perfected in us and manifests through our actions toward others.
True Christian love should be:
- Supernatural, not just natural
- Sacrificial, not selfish
- Active, not passive
- Consistent, not occasional
Life Application
This week, examine your heart and actions regarding love:
- Is your love supernatural and sacrificial, or is it selfish and conditional?
- Does your life demonstrate God’s love to others?
- Are you just going through religious motions, or is your heart truly transformed by God’s love?
Challenge: Choose one person this week to show God’s sacrificial love to in a practical way. This might mean forgiving someone who hurt you, serving someone who can’t repay you, or reaching out to someone who’s difficult to love.
Remember: True love isn’t just about feelings or actions – it’s about allowing God’s perfect love to transform your heart and flow through you to others.