We have all heard that God is love – that’s probably the most powerful statement about God that we have. Even people who don’t go to Church or think of themselves as very religious like the idea that God is love. But what does it mean when we say that God is love? What is love? Have you ever thought about it? There’s an old joke that went around when I was a kid. Someone would ask you if you love something: “Do you love pizza? Do you love ice cream?” If you answered, “Yes!” then they would say, “Well if you love chocolate why don’t you marry it?” A really silly thing to say, and of course no one is going to get married to a piece of candy. The reason is because there are different kinds of love. There is the love you have for pizza, the love you have for your cousins, the love you have for your parents, the love you have for your grandma and grandpa – lots of different kinds of love. God is not all the different kinds of love – God is one kind of love: the love that He had for us by sending His Son Jesus to die on a Cross and save us when we are lost.
BEDE:
Let no one say that when he sins he sins against other people but not against God, for how can you not be sinning against God when you are sinning against love?1
BEDE:
This is the greatest sign of God’s love for us: when we were not yet able to seek him because of our many sins, he sent his Son to us, so that he might grant forgiveness to all who believe in him and call us back into the fellowship of his fatherly glory.2