What Is Love? (1 John 4:9-10)

“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. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

The most important question that we can ask is simple: how do we know that God loves us? We may point to this world with all the beauty therein, to the beautiful sunsets that end our day, and to the bountiful harvest awaiting us each night. Do these show us God’s love? These show us God’s mercy and God’s benevolence, but do they show God’s love? The wicked around the world enjoy the same things, yet we know that God does not love the wicked. Instead of creation, we may point to God’s providence. He has filled our days with such joy and gladness, loaded our storehouses with plenty, delivered us from distress, preserved us from peril, rescued us from ridiculous circumstances, and countless more scenarios may cross our mind. But are these not evidences of God’s kindness to lead the wicked to repentance? Again, creation and providence serve as faulty indicators of God’s love.

How do we know that God loves us? The answer is simple: “God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.” He sent His Son to us to deliver us from the sin and death that we willfully wallowed in. His Son came down into our misery to die the death we were doomed to die. What love is this? All this world has to offer - No! ten thousand times ten thousand worlds and all the goods therein would not parallel the love found in the one Son given. As Paul says, let us “count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” The world will pass away, and kind providence will often fade, but the love of God in Christ is enduring, unfading, undefiled, kept and guarded in heaven for us. Let us keep our eyes on that Son that we may answer the question: how do we know that God loves us?