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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Let's look at how the Bible describes love, and then we will see a few ways in which God is the essence of love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud...
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Andy Mangus
Supporter
A simple and short answer to me is this: Since God does exist, because He is love and overflowed with this love....to me,...this simply is why man and all of His creation exists. We exist because GOD IS LOVE! Remember, He first loved us before the creation of the world! -Andy--
Thomas K M
Supporter
Love of God manifests everything to the human being. The very crucial example of God’s love can be seen throughout Bible. “God is love” is a direct quote from two different verses in the Bible—1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16. However, this truth, which is a description of the fundamental nature of God, is expressed many times in other scriptures. Another often-quoted verse is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world.” In John 16:27 we read, “For the Father Himself loves you.” The apostle John, again, speaks of God’s love in1 John 3:1 when he says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us.” God is love. Love is the fundamental essence of His nature and character—His very being. God is perfect in love. God’s love is manifested by His absolutely pure desire to care for, share and give. God’s agape love frequently expresses itself as a flow of His compassion towards us. “God is love” not only describes the nature of God the Father; “God is love” also describes the nature of God the Son (Jesus Christ). These two members of the Trinity deeply love each other. Love is their nature. God is love. God in His love wants us to become His sons and daughters. All we have to do to become His children—to become at one with Him—is to learn to love Him, His family and His creation, as He loves. God’s Love is expressed in three stages. Love is the source, Grace is the expression of love and the communion is the transmission of his love in grace. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit are one God expressed in three persons. God is the source. Christ is the expression of God and the Holy Spirit is the transmission bringing God in Christ into man. Without these three stages, God’s love could never be dispensed into man.
STANLEY S. DRANE
Supporter
1st.John 4:7,8 (Bible note): God is the source of our love. God's love always involves a choice and an action, and our love should be like his. Real love, is like God, who is holy just, and perfect. If we truly know God, we will love as he does. "God is love".
Janet Austin
Supporter
I recommend reading Jeremiah to understand what "GOD IS LOVE" means. It's a wonderful book that clearly shows God being a just and loving God (two inseparable traits). Seems people often fail to tie justice & love together…as if they feel that enacting punishment means they are not loving (which is so not true). Again and again in Jeremiah, we read about God doing the following (even while He weeps about the people's sin): • Cursing man • Not listening to man • Punishing man • Bringing disaster on the people An example in Jeremiah is where God says, "Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings & grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague." Stay with me because here’s the BEAUTIFUL part… AFTER God punishes...He RESTORES them. Jeremiah 12:14-17 has my favorite summary: (caps mine) 14.Thus says the LORD concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them. 15. “And it will come about that after I have uprooted them, I WILL AGAIN HAVE COMPASSION ON THEM; and I WILL BRING THEM BACK, each one to his inheritance and each one to his land. 16. “Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people. 17. “But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD. We serve a just God who loves. Love is not love without justice.
Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
1 John 4:16 says, "And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him." I think this means that the Savior from above came to seek and save the lost, and that He wants us to spread that good news! The late Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, "We are not saved by loving Christ; we are saved by believing on Christ (John 3:16). But after we realize what He did for us on the cross, our normal response ought to be to love Him and to love one another." Spread the news that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). -- "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Propitiation means atoning sacrifice.
andrew kameya
Supporter
Forgive me, brothers and sisters in Christ for adding a little complexity. God says that His ways are not our ways. So when the answers appear "pat", alarm bells go off. So when we say God is love, which part of God are we talking about? Remember, we have a trinity here. All of those that have had an encounter with Jesus say His whole being is love. The Holy Spirit within us helps us to love others more than we could alone. However, God the Father sometimes displays the wrath of God. One of the ways His wrath manifests itself is Hell. Jesus our Savior saves us from hell. So, how does the spiritual world work? I do not know. I do believe that Jesus is coming soon to correct us, provide direction for us. We are a messed up lot. I also know that God can reset His experiment of human life on earth in a large number of ways, a nearby supernova for example. Increasing or decreasing the sun's output energy is another way. I hope I have not rocked the boat too much - but just enough to get us thinking. In a very real sense, our worldviews do not matter, only His does. God bless
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