God is love

We tend to think of God’s love in the same manner as we think of his other attributes. Scripturally-speaking, we may not do so for the Bible is clear: we cannot receive God’s love without receiving God himself. The love of God and the God of love are inextricably linked. To have God's love is to have God.

When the Bible tells us God is love, it states in no uncertain terms that, though we may be able to distinguish between God’s other attributes, we cannot separate out God's love from the rest of his personhood. Looking closely at it, we discover that love is the one aspect of God that colors all his other attributes. I hesitate even using the word “aspect” in reference to God’s love, for that connotes that somehow God himself can be talked about independently of his love. God’s very essence is love. How else may we speak of the Trinity other than as the essential expression of love, the only way we can conceive of love and, therefore, the only way in which we may understand the nature of God?

When we speak of God’s holiness we must, therefore, speak of it in terms of his love, and when we speak of his joy we can only speak of it as an element of his love. God’s love even colors his infinite nature: his love knows no bounds, no limits—it is (again, Scripturally-speaking, I must emphasize) never-ending.

To receive the love of God is to receive the God of love. You cannot have one without the other.

Now: just trust and rest in that, my friends. There is no reason to be afraid.