The Essential Attribute

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

- 1 John 4.7-8 (NLT)

It's quite amazing, actually. In 1 John, chapter 4, John takes roughly from the 7th through the 21st verse to focus on the relationship of love with God. In understanding the nature of God, I would call this the Essential Attribute, because without it, the God the bible presents us with ceases to exist.

"God is love." An amazing concept. I don't think that too many of us truly realize the ramifications of this statement. In verse 19, John makes this statement, "We love because he first loved us." So the first question we must ask ourselves is this: Do we love?

That is a tough question - tough, but essential. In Matthew 22.37-40, Jesus establishes love as the essential ingredient of the two greatest commands (which sum up all the law of the prophets). And this is not the warm and fuzzy feeling of modern-day Hollywood. John states that love is evidenced in death, the giving by God of his son for our sins (1 John 4.10). This is a love that lives and breathes. A love that gives its final breath for others.

Let me ask again: Do we truly love?

Because here is the key, John has laid it on the line for us: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4.8) It's actually very simple. If we do not love, then we do not know God.

Let us always remember, let us always strive to live this simple fact: God is love, and to know God is to live love.