We started this study of “love” as found in John 13-17 by pointing out that God wants us to be “love driven” or “love directed” in our lives. Let’s expand what we’ve found by looking at some other references to love in the Bible.
This is important because the Bible is its own best interpreter. By that I mean, other portions of scripture often help us understand what we already have studied. God teaches us line upon line, precept upon precept.
As I reflected further about having a love driven or directed life I thought about our Master. Then I considered our motive. To this I added our mandate. Then, our modus operandi. And finally, our mark.
It is clear, our Master Jesus Christ loves those who believe in Him. He loves them even as He loves God the Father. Being one with the Father He is love, for God is love according to 1 John 4:8.
Listen to what Dr. Wuest says on this: “As to the statement, ‘God is love,’ we would suggest that that simply is not true. God is not an abstraction. The word ‘God’ has the article, the word ‘love’ does not, which construction in Greek means that the two words are not interchangeable. The absence of the article emphasizes nature, essence, character. The translation should read, ‘God as to His nature is love.’ That is, God is a loving God. It is His nature to be loving.”
It was His nature to love that motivated Him to send His Son into the world to become our Savior. It is Christ’s nature to love that caused Him to give His life a ransom for us. Our Master models for us how to love God and others.
