God Is Love
He who does not love does not know God for God is love. 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.
1 John 4:8–9 RSV
From Genesis to Revelation, from earth’s greatest tragedy to earth’s greatest triumph, the dramatic story of man’s lowest depths and God’s highest heights can be couched in twenty-five beautiful words: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Many people misunderstand the attribute of God’s nature which is love. “God is love” does not mean that everything is sweet, beautiful, and happy, and that God’s love could not possibly allow punishment for sin.
God’s holiness demands that all sin be punished, but God’s love provided a plan of redemption and salvation for sinful man. God’s love provided the cross of Jesus Christ by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. It was the love of God that sent Jesus Christ to the cross.
Who can describe or measure the love of God? The Bible is a revelation of the fact that God is love. When we preach justice, it is justice tempered with love. When we preach righteousness, it is righteousness founded on love.
When we preach atonement, it is atonement planned by love, provided by love, given by love, finished by love, necessitated because of love. When we preach the resurrection of Christ, we are preaching the miracle of love. When we preach the return of Christ, we are preaching the fulfillment of love.
Our Father and our God, Your love is marvelous beyond compare. It is the prompter of grace, the basis of my hope, the source of my salvation and redemption. Your love sent Jesus to the cross for me, and for that I will forever be overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank You, eternal Father, for Your boundless love, which I receive daily through Christ Jesus, my Lord. In Him I pray. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).