Love is the topic of the Bible, mentioned between 500 and 550 times depending on the version. It’s the most important topic of all. Think about how important love is in our world today. As a race, we search our whole lives for the real deal. God is the definition of love.
Jesus spent a great deal of His time with the disciples, teaching them to love each other and demonstrate His love to the world. John 15:12–13, 17 says: “My commandment is this, to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. This I command you, to love one another.”
Love is a big deal to God. Philippians 1:9–11 says, “And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”
Think of how many times God, in His grace and mercy, forgave the rebellious Israelites again and again, and me too. God is love. He can’t be other than that. Love is His very nature.
We, too, are commanded to love God and serve Him only. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.” It’s written in the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” There are at least 500 more references to love in the Bible.
The bottom line? God is love, and we are to love one another as He loves us. That means we must be slow to anger, quick to forgive, and hold our tongues. None of these is an easy task, but with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can.