The Greatest Gift: Understanding God's Love

The morning air was filled with worship songs, voices lifted in praise to the One who sits enthroned. Among the lyrics echoing through the sanctuary were words that would linger long after: "Now to the Lamb upon the throne, be blessing, honor, glory, power for the battle you have won." These aren't just beautiful words—they're a declaration of victory, a reminder of a love so profound it changed everything.

We live in a world obsessed with proving love. Yesterday marked one of those designated days when we're supposed to demonstrate affection through carefully chosen gifts and grand gestures. Yet how often do these attempts fall short? The gym membership that says "I love you, but..." The clearance candy with the price sticker still visible. The re-gifted item with someone else's name still attached. These misguided tokens reveal something deeper: we struggle to truly understand and express genuine love.

When Love Takes Action

The apostle John gives us a radically different picture of love in his first epistle. Writing to early believers, he makes a stunning declaration: "God is love." This isn't merely describing one of God's attributes among many—it's revealing something essential about His very nature. If we understand that God is spirit (revealing His essence) and God is light (revealing His holiness), then understanding that God is love reveals His action.

Because here's the truth: according to Scripture, love is always on display. Love is always manifest. It never remains abstract or theoretical. God didn't simply feel affection for humanity from a distance; He acted decisively and sacrificially.

John writes: "By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him." Read that again slowly. The love of God wasn't proven through words alone, but through the most costly gift imaginable—His unique, one-of-a-kind Son.

The Gift That Keeps Giving

This wasn't a gift given because we earned it or deserved it. John makes this crystal clear: "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."

Think about what this means. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were unlovable, unable to save ourselves, incapable of earning divine favor. Yet God loved us first. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This is the scandal of grace—God demonstrated His love for the unlovable by sending someone who could provide a way to live.

The word "propitiation" might sound theological and distant, but it carries profound meaning. It means that Christ fully satisfied what the Father's holiness required. The punishment we deserved fell on Him. The debt we could never pay was canceled. What the law couldn't do—make us righteous—Christ accomplished.

This is where the holiness of God and the love of God meet at the cross. God didn't stop being holy to demonstrate love. Rather, in His perfect holiness, He provided a perfect atonement. In His love, He gave it as a gift through His own Son. What holiness demanded, love provided.

Born to Love

But the message doesn't end with receiving God's love. John continues: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

This is where it gets personal. If we have been born of God—if we have experienced this new birth through faith in Christ—then we have received His nature. And since God is love, those born of Him have a special capacity and calling to love.

John writes, "Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." This isn't saying that non-believers are incapable of any form of love. Rather, it's saying that experiencing God's love broadens our capacity to love in ways we never could otherwise.

When we truly grasp how much we've been forgiven, we become more ready to forgive. When we understand the mercy extended to us, we extend mercy to others. When we realize how many times we've claimed the promise that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive," we become more willing to be forgiving.

The Challenge of Originating Love

Here's where the rubber meets the road: Stop waiting to be loved first. Stop only reciprocating love. Be loving. Originate acts of love.

This is challenging because not everyone is equally lovable. Some people are prickly, difficult, even hostile. But love is our calling as followers of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit begins with love for a reason—it's foundational to everything else.

Remember the two greatest commandments? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. We cannot keep these commandments if we cannot love. And we cannot truly love if we haven't experienced the love of God.

Two Essential Questions

This brings us to two critical questions every person must answer:

First, are you alive? God sent His Son into the world that we might live through Him. Have you experienced this new birth? Is there a point when you acknowledged your need for a Savior and placed your faith in Jesus Christ? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Jesus is the gate, the way, the source of life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

Second, if you are alive, are you loving? Nothing declares that we are born of God and know Him like true love. This isn't about grand gestures once a year. It's about the daily giving away of ourselves for the well-being of others. It's about being willing to originate acts of love, to begin the process of restoration, to demonstrate the fruit of God's Spirit in tangible ways.

The Potentate of Time

An old hymn captures this beautifully: "Crown Him the Lord of years, the potentate of time." There is no one higher than our God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is ineffably sublime—His character beyond our full comprehension or expression.

And this eternal, holy, all-powerful God chose to love us. He chose to act on our behalf. He chose to give His most precious gift so that we might live.

The praises we will sing to Him in eternity ought to be on the hearts of believers now. Jesus isn't waiting to become King—He is King. He isn't waiting to become Lord—He is Lord. And He is Lord of every heart and ruler of every soul.

So crown Him with many crowns. Bless the Lord with ten thousand reasons. Depend on Him for your waking breath and your daily bread. And in response to His incredible love, love one another as He has loved you.

God is love. And if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.