We love Him (God) because He first loved us. - 1 John 4:19
Meditate on that verse for a moment. I love God because He first loved me. To try and understand God's love, we need to know what love, agape love, is.
Agape Love:
Sacrificial: John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Merciful & Gracious: Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"
Humble & Faithful: Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Inseparable, Unending, Patient: Romans 8:38-39 " For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Caring & Kind: 1 John 8:11 " He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
Selfless & Good: 1 Corinthians 13:7 " It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
Christ-Centered & Godly (faithful, obedient, and reverence to God): Ephesians 5:1-2 "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Why is the greatest of those three, love? I heard a sermon by Adrian Rogers that stated it perfectly, I will summarize it. Faith is believing without seeing but when we either die or are called home, we will see God and all His glory and our faith will become sight. Hope is the anticipation of something to come but when we die or are called home, hope becomes reality. However, love will never die, it will always continue even after death.
Christmas is next week, we will celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and visit loved ones. This Christmas, don't take God's love for granted, truly appreciate and praise Him for the boundless and marvelous gift that He has given us! During this time let's remember the agape love that God has for us and do something this week to demonstrate that love to someone else. Whether that be through an action, word, card, or gift, let someone know real love by living it out and showing them. Memorize 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, to understand and remember all of what real love is and what real love is not to help you each day.
I end this post with this prayer for you and a praise to God for His perfect, immeasurable, complete agape love wrapped up in a precious holy gift, His Son, Jesus Christ.
For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. - Ephesians 3:14-21