God Is Love: The God Who Gives Himself

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
(1 John 4:8, ESV)

“God loves you.” We say it often. It’s printed on mugs, bumper stickers, and social media posts. Yet for many, those three words feel thin—too small to carry the weight of real pain, guilt, and doubt.

Biblically, God’s love is not a vague warmth or mere sentiment. God’s love is self-giving action—a concrete, costly commitment to seek the eternal good of the utterly undeserving.

“The supreme proof of the love of God is the gift of His Son,
a gift given not to good people but to sinners.”
— John Stott

To grasp this, we need to move beyond clichés and listen carefully to what Scripture actually says.

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1. More Than “God Loves You” (1 John 4:7–8)

John writes:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
(1 John 4:7–8, ESV)

“God is love” does not mean:

• Love is God (as if any strong feeling becomes divine).
• God is only love (as if He were not also holy, just, and sovereign).

It means that love belongs to the very nature of God. Everything He does—His choosing, calling, disciplining, forgiving—flows from a heart that is perfectly, eternally loving.

C.S. Lewis warned against softening God’s love into mere indulgence:

“We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are… rebels who must lay down our arms.
The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go,
His love for us does not.”
— C.S. Lewis

The love of God is not sentimental tolerance. It is holy, purposeful, and strong enough to confront our rebellion and save us from it.

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2. Love Revealed in a Person (1 John 4:9–10)

John refuses to let “love” remain abstract:

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us,
that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
(1 John 4:9–10, ESV)

Notice:

• God’s love was “made manifest”—shown, displayed, made visible in history.
• Love is God sending His Son, not merely sending a message.
• Jesus is the propitiation for our sins—He bears the judgment our sins deserve, turning aside God’s righteous wrath.

This is why John 3:16 is so precious:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16, ESV)

The measure of God’s love is the value of the gift He gives, and the depth of the need He meets. He gives His Son to people perishing in sin.

Athanasius reflected on the wonder of the Incarnation:

“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.”
— Athanasius of Alexandria

God’s love is not just a declaration from far away; it is God coming near, taking on our flesh, stepping into our world, and ultimately taking our place.

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3. Love for the Unlovely (Romans 5:6–8)

God’s love does not wait for us to improve ourselves. It meets us at our worst.

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.“
(Romans 5:6–8, ESV)

Paul stacks up the evidence:

• “While we were still weak” — helpless, unable to save ourselves.
• “Christ died for the ungodly” — not the morally impressive, but the spiritually bankrupt.
• “While we were still sinners” — not after we cleaned up, but while we were in active rebellion.

This is love for the unlovely. God does not love us because we are worthy; He makes us worthy because He loves us.

J.I. Packer puts it plainly:

“There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic,
based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me,
so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me.”
— J.I. Packer, Knowing God

This means your worst day, your deepest failure, your most shameful secret—none of it surprises God. He saw it all and still sent His Son.

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4. Love That Transforms (1 John 4:17–21)

God’s love is not passive or static. It changes us.

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment,
because as he is so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
(1 John 4:17–18, ESV)

a) Love Drives Out Fear

Because God’s love is settled at the cross, we do not live in terror of rejection.

• We can confess sin honestly, knowing we are forgiven.
• We can face trials, knowing nothing separates us from His love (Romans 8:38–39).
• We can anticipate judgment day with confidence, not dread, because we stand in Christ.

b) Love Births Love

“We love because he first loved us.”
(1 John 4:19, ESV)

Our love for God and others does not spring from our own goodness or willpower. It is the response to being loved first.

John goes further:

“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
(1 John 4:20, ESV)

God’s love is not only vertical (between us and Him); it flows horizontally (to the people around us). If we have truly been loved by God, that love will overflow into real, costly, tangible care for others.

Jonathan Edwards observed:

“True religion, in great part, consists in holy affections.”
— Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections

The love we’ve received is meant to move us—not just emotionally, but practically—into acts of mercy, patience, forgiveness, and service.

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5. Living Loved: How God’s Love Reshapes Us

Knowing God’s love is transformative. It rewrites the way we think about ourselves, God, and others.

a) It Anchors Our Identity

When you know God loves you, your identity no longer rests on:

• Your performance
• Your reputation
• Your past mistakes
• Your current struggles

Your identity is in Christ, and God’s love for you is as secure as His love for His own Son.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us,
that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”
(1 John 3:1, ESV)

b) It Fuels Obedience

God’s commands are not burdensome rules from a distant tyrant. They are the loving instructions of a Father who knows what will bring us life.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome.”
(1 John 5:3, ESV)

When we truly grasp God’s love, obedience becomes joyful gratitude, not grim duty.

c) It Empowers Mission

Because God loved us when we were His enemies, we are sent to love those who are far from Him.

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
(John 20:21, ESV)

We carry the message of God’s love to a broken, hurting world—not because we are superior, but because we have been loved freely and sent to share that love.

D.A. Carson writes:

“God’s love is not a sloppy, sentimental love; it is the love that sent His Son to die.”
— D.A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God

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Practical Steps to Live in God’s Love

1. Meditate on the Cross Daily

Don’t rush past the gospel. Spend time each day reflecting on passages like Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:9–10, and Ephesians 2:4–5. Let the reality of God’s love sink deeper.

2. Confess Sin Without Fear

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9, ESV)

God’s love means we can be radically honest about our sin, knowing we will be cleansed, not cast out.

3. Speak the Truth to Yourself

When doubt and condemnation come, preach the gospel to your own heart:

• “I am loved by God” (1 John 4:10)
• “Nothing can separate me from His love” (Romans 8:38–39)
• “I am His child” (1 John 3:1)

4. Love Others Concretely

Ask God daily: “Who can I love today in Your name?”

• Forgive someone who hurt you.
• Serve someone who can’t repay you.
• Speak truth gently to someone living in deception.

Love is not just what we feel; it’s what we do.

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Recommended Books on the Love of God

If you want to go deeper into the love of God, these books are treasures:

1. D.A. Carson – The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
   A careful, biblical look at different aspects of God’s love—correcting both sentimentalism and harshness.
2. J.I. Packer – Knowing God
   Especially chapters on God’s love and grace; warm, pastoral, and theologically rich.
3. John Stott – The Cross of Christ
   Explores how the cross is the ultimate expression of both God’s love and His justice.
4. Sam Storms – The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians
   Devotional reflections that help readers rest in God’s love and live in light of it.
5. Dane Ortlund – Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers
   A beautiful, deeply comforting meditation on the tender love of Jesus for broken people.

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A Hymn of God’s Love

Let these timeless words become your prayer and praise today:

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

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Beloved, this is the God we serve: the God who is love, who proved His love at the cross, and who will never let us go. Rest in Him today.