God is love. It is a declaration that holds more truth than we can fully understand this side of heaven. God is love and He can never be anything outside of love. His character demands that He be faithful to Himself, and He is a Witness to His abounding love for His creation.
In 1 John 4:19 we are told that we love God because He first loved us. I believe that many of us can really understand this on a personal level. My husband Jack loves me and I love him, and we have been professing this love to each other for over 40 years. What is interesting is that when we met back in the late 70’s I remember saying to Jack that if the day ever came that he didn’t love me anymore then I would find it impossible to stay. This may sound immature to you, but actually I was speaking from my heart then, and not much has changed all these years later.
Here is the deal. I have experienced love my entire life. My family loved me, my husband and children love me, and now I can count two son-in-laws and six grandchildren in the mix. When you have felt love you are blessed, and you know that it increases the quality of your life. That is why Jesus told us to love one another. He knew that we could change lives with our capacity to love another human being. Surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, people can’t thrive without love. We need love to get us though the difficult times, and to fully embrace the joy we experience even in the smallest of things. It is those small things that make our days special, and special times are better shared with those we love.
1 John 4: 17 CSB In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have the confidence in the day of judgement, because as He is, so also are we in this world.