“God is love” (I John 4:16). What a simple yet profound description of the God that we serve! Love is one of God’s essential and defining attributes. The Bible declares not merely that God feels love or that He sometimes loves. God is love. Love is an inherent part of His divine nature.

Human love comes and goes as feelings change. But God’s love is eternal, steadfast, and ever abounding because it springs from the very essence of Who He is. Such love defies human comprehension because it is so far beyond our normal experience.

In Deuteronomy Chapter 7, we learn something about God’s love that is extremely encouraging for us as poor and undeserving sinners. In verse 6, Jehovah said to the nation of Israel, “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”

But lest the nation of Israel become proud of her special position, the Lord explained the basis of His love. “The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (verses 7–8).

The love of God for Israel was unmerited by any circumstance or special quality of the nation. God loved the Israelites not because they were many, for they were few in number. God loved them not because they were faithful or obedient, for they were not—they complained and disobeyed over and over again! The Lord God loved them not because they were holy, for they were sinners like the rest of the pagan world in which they lived.

God’s love for Israel was “because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers” (verse 8). God’s love was based upon His eternal covenant. He loved Israel because He promised to love her and because love is an inherent part of His nature.

As human beings, we tend to love what is lovely. Conditional in nature, our natural love is based upon the worth of the object of our love. But God’s love is unconditional. It is eternal. It is unmerited. Thus, God is able to love the unlovely, the despised, the vile, the outcast, and every single one of us who are sinners.

The Apostle Paul echoes Deuteronomy Chapter 7 in the New Testament when he says, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6–8).

Jesus loved us not because we were lovely; He loved us because He was fulfilling the eternal covenant of redemption. Jesus Christ was then and is now the manifestation of God’s love for a lost and sinful world. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Every blessing that we enjoy comes to us because God loved us when we were unlovely. We should never take for granted this special, unique attribute of God—He is love. Without His love, we would be hopeless and miserable. But as recipients of God’s love, we enjoy every blessing of redemption! Thus, we should be eager to share His great love with others.

At this point, the doctrinal study of God’s love becomes very practical and personal. Jesus told His disciples, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). As natural men in our unregenerate condition, our love was temporal, selfish, and fleeting. We loved the lovely, and expected something in return for affection. Our love was inherently selfish.

But as Christians, we are called to a higher standard. We are called to love as God loves. We are called to love one another as Christ Jesus loves us. God is love, and we are to dwell in that love. Just as love is an inherent part of God’s character and nature, so it also should become an inherent part of our nature as we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ. This is indeed a high calling, and it is a Biblical one. 

Are you willing to love the unlovely? Are you eager to share the Good News of God’s saving love to lost and dying sinners? Is your love unselfish as our Lord’s love is? As we meditate on God’s attribute of love, may He give each one of us the grace to love as He loves.