🌱 GROWING IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
🌿 Lesson 2: To Know God
📘 2.3 God Is Love
Understanding love as the essence of God
📖 1. Introduction – A Familiar Word
“God is love” — a sentence many people know.
But what does it really mean?
We often associate love with feelings, expectations, or experiences.
Sometimes also with disappointment or insecurity.
But if our understanding of love is shaped by human ideas,
there is a danger that we will also misunderstand God.
👉 The decisive question is:
Do we define love — or does God define what love is?
📜 2. The Biblical Foundation – God’s Identity
The Bible does not only say that God loves.
It says:
👉 God is love (1 John 4:8)
That means:
love is not merely one attribute of God —
it is His very essence.
Everything God does springs from this love.
- 1 John 4:7–19 shows:
- God loves first
- God’s love is perfect
- God’s love seeks relationship
👉 “Whoever remains in love remains in God.”
So love is not just a feeling —
but a living connection with God Himself.
🌍 3. Connection to the Present Time
Today, “love” is often defined in different ways:
- as a feeling
- as tolerance without boundaries
- or as something that depends on circumstances
But these forms are often unstable and imperfect.
The problem:
if we transfer these definitions to God,
a distorted picture emerges.
👉 Either God becomes “too soft” (everything is acceptable)
👉 or “too distant” (love without relationship)
Yet the Bible shows another reality:
a love that is deep, faithful, and binding.
💡 4. Central Message of the Lesson
The central truth is:
👉 God’s love is the source of all true love.
We do not love because we are able to —
but because we were first loved.
This love is:
- unconditional
- faithful
- active
- self-sacrificing
And it invites us:
👉 to live and remain in this love.
✝️ 5. Theological Focus
At the center stands one of the deepest statements in the Bible:
👉 God is, in His essence, love.
That means:
love is not something God “does” —
but something He “is.”
But here is an important distinction:
👉 God’s love is not defined by human standards —
👉 rather, human love must be understood in light of God.
That changes everything.
Because human love is often:
- changeable
- conditional
- dependent on emotions
God’s love, by contrast, is:
- constant
- selfless
- based on decision
A central biblical word for this is “chesed”:
a faithful, covenant-oriented love.
👉 That means:
God does not just love —
He remains.
This love is shown most powerfully at the cross:
“God demonstrates His love toward us in that Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Here it becomes clear:
👉 God’s love is not merely a feeling —
👉 it acts, gives, and sacrifices.
Theologically, this means:
- Love is the ground of salvation
- Love is the goal of relationship
- Love is God’s motivation
But this love is not “soft” or meaningless.
It is connected with:
- truth
- holiness
- justice
👉 True love does not ignore sin —
👉 it overcomes it.
That is why the cross is so central:
there, love and justice meet.
📖 6. Bible Texts Explained
- 1 John 4:7–19 shows:
love begins with God — not with us. - Genesis 1:27 makes it clear:
we are created to love — because God is love.
John 3:16 reveals:
God’s love gives what is most precious — His Son.
Romans 5:8 shows:
God’s love is not directed toward us because we are good —
but although we are not.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 describes the qualities of love.
👉 If we replace “love” there with “God,”
we see God’s character.
👉 If we place our own name there,
we see how much we still need this love.
🔧 7. Application in Daily Life
This lesson becomes very practical:
Am I living out of God’s love — or out of my own strength?
Concrete steps:
Consciously accept God’s love (not just know it)
Spend time with God in order to experience His love
Meet other people with this love
Learn to live love as a decision — not only as a feeling
It is not only about being loved —
but about passing that love on.
❓ 8. Reflection Question
Do I truly believe that God loves me —
just as I am?
And does my life reflect this love?
Or am I still living out of fear, performance, or insecurity?
🌟 9. Closing Thought
God’s love is not abstract.
It has become visible:
in Jesus.
👉 He did not only speak about love —
👉 He lived it.
And He invites us:
not only to think about love,
but to live in it.
Because:
👉 Whoever knows God knows love
👉 and whoever remains in His love remains in Him
