John wrote, "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Oh, now, hang on. That was the King James version. It's funny because that first "Him" isn't actually in the original. So more literal versions today simply say, "We love, because He first loved us." That is, the only way we can know and emulate the kind of love he's talking about here is because God has done it toward us and has enabled it in us.
I've written about this more than once. Today's "love" is not the same as the kind often written about in the Bible. And it is this verse that points it out. If the kind of love the Bible commands is the love that is not known unless God shows and enables it, then perhaps we should look into what that might look like. So what does God's love look like? Obviously it's not the same as loving pizza. What is it?
First and foremost God's love is sacrificial.
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. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9-11)We knew that, right? I mean, John 3:16 says the same thing. God loved the world this way -- He sent His Son. Paul wrote, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). The same thing. God's love is best demonstrated in His giving His Son on our behalf. But that last one carries with it another component. To whom was this love demonstrated? "Sinners." "The ungodly" (Rom 5:6). "Enemies" of God (Rom 5:10). You can see that this takes it a bit farther; indeed, farther than we might deem reasonable. It is sacrificial, sure, and what a sacrifice -- His Son. But we understand sacrifice for a loved one. This one we don't. We don't understand that kind of sacrifice for an enemy (Rom 5:7). God's love is best demonstrated, then, in sacrifice for enemies as well as friends.
What's another difference? We believe that love is affirming. And it often is, but we deny that it's love if it is not affirming. God disagrees.
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives. (Heb 12:5-6)That's not quite like our version, is it? Note that this discipline is for "the one he loves." Note also that the word, "chastises," is literally "to flog or scourge." Not mere teaching moments. So this would definitely be what we term "tough love," a concept today that is almost entirely absent and almost certainly denied. In fact, the text goes on to say, "If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb 12:8). No "tough love," no relationship.
God's love for us -- that love that is the operating principle for the love we're supposed to have for Him and for others -- is not a warm and fuzzy kind of love. It's not "chemistry." It's not even predicated on how lovable we might be ... because the premise is we are not naturally lovable. It includes sacrifice -- at great personal cost. It includes training and even punishment. It certainly includes grace and mercy, and faithfulness (Lam 3:22). It certainly exceeds our ability to fully grasp (Eph 3:19). But the primary thing to remember is that this is love that God produces. It cannot, therefore, be the mere love that we think of. On the other hand, as believers -- as those being conformed into the likeness of His Son (Rom 8:29) -- it is possible for us. No, not possible; mandatory (John 13:35; 1 John 4:8; 1 John 5:1-3).
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Eph 5:1-2)
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