More Like Jesus: Reflections on Love

God’s Love

The topic of love is multifaceted, as it enters into various aspects of our lives: our relationship with God, with family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. It is the virtue which the apostle Paul considered the greatest:

Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.¹

The focus of this and the following articles will be the various aspects of love. Since Scripture states that God is love,² it seemed appropriate to begin the topic with quotations about God’s love.

“You know my God. My God is called love.”—Mother Teresa

“God’s love is much more than our human love simply multiplied and expanded. God's love for us will ever be a mystery; unfathomable, awesome, entirely beyond human expectation.”—Joseph Langford

“I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.”—Exodus 20:6 NLT

“God doesn’t value or love us based on our worth, measured according to some impossible standard of perfection. On the contrary, we are worth a great deal because he loves us.”—Sarah Christmyer

“God loves you so much that he gave his life for you. He didn’t even have to think twice. He wants nothing but what's best for you, and he’s more than worthy of your trust. Surrendering to him is no risk at all when you consider the height and depth and breadth of his love.”—Laura Story

“The only love that won’t disappoint you is the one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that.”—Tim Keller

“My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us, and will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him.”—Billy Graham

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:8

“People may forsake you, and the world may turn against you. But God will always love you.”—Gift Gugu Mona

“Why do so many of us struggle with the fact that God loves us unconditionally, and that no matter how good or bad we are, He’ll never stop loving us? God is the only One who never gives up on us, never abandons us, never forgets about us or ceases to care about us. We can never go anywhere without His merciful and compassionate pursuit. Think you’re unlovable and that nobody cares about you? Pause, and always remember that God does and He always will!”—Ron Lambros

“God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.”—Rick Warren

“God loves you just the way you are, but he refuses to leave you that way.”—Max Lucado

“Child of God, you cost Christ too much for Him to forget you.”—Charles Spurgeon

“Understand that God is always faithful in His love for you.”—Karen Middleton

“God does not love us because we are valuable. We are valuable because God loves us.”—Fulton J. Sheen

“Every ordinary thing in your life is a word of God’s love: your home, your work, the clothes you wear, the air you breathe, the food you eat … the flowers under your feet are the courtesy of God’s heart flung down on you! All these things say one thing only. ‘See how I love you.’”—Caryll Houselander

“Love is at the core of God’s identity, woven into everything He says and does.”—Ron Gallagher

“When the Bible speaks of God’s love for us and the kind of love we are to have for him and for other people, the word is always agape, signifying a commitment to act.”—Rick Warren

“Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.”—Tullian Tchividjian

“There will always be someone willing to hurt you, put you down, gossip about you, belittle your accomplishments and judge your soul. It is a fact that we all must face. However, if you realize that God is a best friend that stands beside you when others cast stones, you will never be afraid, never feel worthless and never feel alone.”—Shannon Alder

“God, in his infinite wisdom understands, loves, and cares for all of us.”—Oliver Powell

“To understand love we must understand the One that is the Source of true Love: God.”—Michael Caputo

“The beautiful thing about God is that even though we cannot fully comprehend His love, His love fully comprehends us.”—Morgan Harper-Nichols

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”—1 John 3:1 NIV

“If I were to meet the slave-traders who kidnapped me and even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for if that did not happen, I would not be a Christian and religious today. … The Lord has loved me so much, we must love everyone … we must be compassionate.”—Josephine Bakhita

“Whether you are an aging theologian or a child just beginning life's journey, the knowledge of God’s love is the soul’s surest anchor.”—Kay Swatkowski

“It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you … yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand.”—Unknown

“Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.”—Philip Yancey

“There’s no place too dark for God’s light to penetrate and no heart too difficult to be set aflame by His love.”—Sammy Tippit

“The sin underneath all our sins is to trust the lie of the serpent that we cannot trust the love and grace of Christ and must take matters into our own hands.”―Martin Luther

“God loves us for ourselves. He values our love more than He values galaxies of new created worlds.”—A. W. Tozer

“Measure not God’s love and favour by your own feeling. The sun shines as clearly in the darkest day as it does in the brightest. The difference is not in the sun, but in some clouds which hinder the manifestation of the light thereof.”—Richard Sibbes

“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”—Saint Augustine

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”—Brennan Manning

“Life is too short, the world is too big and God’s love is too great to live ordinary.”—Christine Caine

“Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”—C. S. Lewis

“God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love, and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.”—Jerry Bridges

“God’s love for us is proclaimed by each sunrise.”—Unknown

“We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”—1 John 4:16 NIV

“Even during the worst hardships, when the other things in our lives seem to fall apart, we can still find peace in the eternal love of God.”—Armstrong Williams

“God loves you in spite of your mistakes.”—Thea Harris

“God’s answer to the question of identity (‘Who am I?’) is: ‘I love you. You mean everything to Me. You are worth the life of My Son, Jesus Christ, because that is what I paid for you. You belong, and you’re supposed to be here.’”—Craig Hill

“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. ... He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.”―Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age.”—Isaiah 46:3–4 NLT

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”—Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”—1 John 4:9–11 NIV

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Note

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.