Post 24: The Greatest Love of All
Image/Alt Text: red-colored, hallowed-out heart with a red, hollowed-out cross in the center of the heart. The words "God is love" is shown along with the website name "bytesofsalvation.com, Feb 2026".
Post Summary: This posts will dive into how I'm coming to learn about and recognize the immeasurable love of God in my life and how God demonstrates His love for humanity through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
The month of February is synonymous with feelings of love, and many of us are contemplating the meaning of love and the presence (or absence) of real love in our own lives. Regardless of how love may or may not be adequately represented on our personal lives, God our Almighty Creator shows us the most perfect example of what true love in the person of Jesus Christ.
Since my salvation back in Feb 2024, I have been learning more and more about God's love everyday. Gods love has several defining characteristics, including free, unconditional, sacrificial, divine, faithful, and eternal. 1 Corinthians 13 talks about the qualities of true love and being that God Is love, I can say joyfully that the truest form of love exists only through Him.
God's Nature is Love:
God's Nature is Love and this divine love is both the source of human love and the ultimate model for how love ought to be expressed. This is shown in passages like 1 John 4:8-10, which reads: "8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 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. 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."
In this passage, the bible explains that in God's profound love, he sent His Son Jesus to bear the punishment humanity deserves for its sin and through His death made forgiveness possible. Jesus is the propitiation, meaning his blood (death) is the sacrifice that removes sin's penalty, which God himself provided. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, turned away the righteous wrath of God against sin, satisfying the demands of God's divine justice and holy anger against sin, and making reconciliation with God available.
While Christ is the propitiation for the sins of believers, 1 John 2:2 also informs us that Christ's death also covers the sins of the whole world. Sacrifices for atonement is rooted in Old Testament sacrificial systems where blood was shed to cover sin (Leviticus 4), with Christ being the ultimate, perfect, and final sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). Propitiation ensures that God can be both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus, fulfilling the Law’s demand for punishment.
Gods Love is Unmerited, and Sacrificial:
God demonstrates His love for humanity through the sacrifice of of Jesus Christ (John 3:16). In John 15:13, the Bible tells us, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends". God Himself exceeds the description of love found in John 15:13, in His sacrificial love that offers salvation through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, who blood covers a multitude of sins.
His love is not earned, nor deserved, nor based on our worthiness, but given freely in Christ Jesus. Romans 5:8, which says, "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us". This verse tells me that God's profound love is unmerited, showing that Christ's sacrifice wasn't for the righteous but for the ungodly and rebellious, proving love even when humanity was undeserving. The only way to receive the eternal benefit of Christ’s sacrifice is to believe in Him (John 3:16). I think these two verses together paint a great picture of God's profound love for humanity.
I mean, really take some time and consider this...God loves the world, which is His creation (Genesis 1-2, Colossians 1:16). His creation also includes all of mankind, and you, the reader, is part of mankind. He loves us so much so that He would purpose His sinless, perfect Son Jesus to die a criminal's death on the cross, taking away the wage of the sin of mankind onto himself (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:5, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Through our faith in Christ's sufficient sacrifice to fully atone for sin, God promises that we would not perish, which here means eternal separation from God (Isaiah 59:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:9) but that we would have eternal life (John 3:16, 1 John 5:11). God gave up His Son as a sin sacrifice, that undeserving humanity could be forgiven and reconciled back to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Colossians 1:21-22).
Gods Love is Steadfast & Eternal:
The words steadfast and eternal may conjure similar definitions in our minds but those words do have differing meanings. Steadfast is generally defined as being firmly fixed in place, immovable, unwavering, and loyal, generally describing an active, on-going, dependable, reliable commitment. Eternal means lasting forever, having permanence, timelessness, and absolute endurance, with no beginning or end, generally describing something that exists outside of time.
After comparing the two terms, I better understand steadfastness as a present action of being unwavering or immovable in commitment, while eternal is a state of being forever. Steadfastness focuses on loyalty in the face of change, while eternal focuses on the absence of change entirely.
In many biblical contexts, these terms are paired together, such as "steadfast love" which is described as being "eternal". God's love remains steadfast even when we fail, and is not dependent on human circumstances or failures. God's love is also eternal as God Himself is love, having existed before creation and will endure forever (Psalm 136:26, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Timothy 1:17).
Gods love is Gracious & Merciful:
Mercy is an act of sparing someone from the punishment they rightfully deserve, and biblically is often equated with God's compassion that stops judgment. Grace is unmerited favor allowing someone to receive a gift or blessing that is not deserved nor can be earned. As I continue learning about God in this Christian life, I've come to a better understanding of the importance of both of these terms in the salvation that Jesus so lovingly offered me (and all people) by His death on the cross.
In God's love, He offers grace and mercy to those who turn to Him and believe on Jesus Christ in faith. In God's love, he extends mercy, in that by our faith in Christ, He does not give us the condemnation that we DO deserve because of our sin (Psalm 103:8-10). In Gods love, He extends grace to us in that He offers the blessing of forgiveness and eternal life in the salvation that only Christ can offer, a salvation which we DO NOT deserve nor could ever earn (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 2:11).
Patience and kindness are fundamental aspects of both grace and mercy. Because God is love, His love is therefore also patient and kind. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance". I think about this in my own life everyday, recognizing that if God had not been patient with me, even as I sought my own sinful ways, I would not be alive today to write this blog about His great love!
Gods Love is Unconditional & Providential:
"Unconditional" describes something that is absolute, total, and free from limitations, restrictions, or requirements. It indicates that an action, emotion, or agreement holds true regardless of circumstances, without expecting anything in return. God's love is unconditional because His very nature is love and He expresses that love regardless of our actions or lack of reciprocation. Gods love, shown through the person and work of Jesus Christ, also provides the ultimate security and assurance for the believer, assuring us that nothing can separate us from Him (Romans 8:38-39). This is an amazing promise that we can never do anything to separate ourselves from God's love.
God's love is also providential, or involving divine foresight or intervention. Despite humanity's' sin and unbelief, God in his love, continues to provide for the whole of creation and the needs of humanity, as well as sustaining humanity itself. The bible tells us in Matthew 5:45 "...He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." This is one of many bible verses that speak of the providential nature of Gods love, showing that God impartially provides His blessings, such as life itself, sunlight, and rain, to all of creation, instead of only to those who are reconciled to Him.
Gods Love is Familiar:
I am so amazed by the thought that our reconciliation with God through faith in Christ also brings about our adoption into the family of God, as sons and daughters of God. As adopted children of God, He becomes our Father, and we become heirs with Christ. For the believer that is reconciled through Christ, God's love becomes very personal to us. When God became my heavenly Father, I began to learn how His love and care feels familiar, intimate, and directly involved in all aspects of my daily life. (John 1:12, Romans 8:14-17, Ephesians 1:5)
As our heavenly Father, God works all things together for the good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). God's familiar love and generosity for his children is further supported in verses like Matthew 7:11 which says "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Jesus Himself also reiterates the notion of God being our Father in the Lord's Prayer, found in Matthew 6: 9-13, where Jesus shares a model of how we ought to pray to God, our heavenly Father.
God's Love is vast and immeasurable:
God's love is described as wide, long, high, and deep, covering all aspects of life, possessing an infinite scope and depth. In Psalm 103:11-12, God's word reads, "11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. This verse says that God's love is limitless and immeasurable, loving us so much that through Jesus' sacrifice He removed our sins.
Ephesians 3:17-19 is also another awesome passage that speaks to the vastness of God's love. It reads "17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Conclusion:
I now can more personally relate to verses like Psalm 63:3, where David says "Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you". In His amazing love, God literally gives us eternal life through our faith in the sacrificial death of Christ and He gives us His Holy Spirit as a down-payment (Ephesians 1:13-14)
God, our heavenly Father, makes many promises to us, His Children, and His Word says that He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13)! Truly, there is no greater love than His and I thank God everyday that He has forgiven my sins by grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ! AMEN!