In church culture there are various words and phrases that can seem strange and odd to an outsider like:
Potluck, born again Christian, doing life together, and God is love.
We can easily get lost in the many phrases and lingo that is found in thousands of churches around the country.
But what about that last question.
What does God is love even mean?
Excellent question!
Lets answer that question with another question, what is love?
How can we even dream of answering what God is before we even understand what love is?
The bible describes what love is in this way:
1 John 4:19
"We love because He first loved us"
In other words, we know and understand what love is by our experience with love.
There are many different ways we can experience love.
We may love our dog, pizza, our spouse, our children, and basketball.
You see, not all of those types of love fit into the same category. So what kind of love is the Bible talking about in 1 John 4:19?
Lets answer that question with another question.
But how did God love us?
By sacrificing everything.
His life.
His Kingdom.
His Throne.
So our existence wouldn't end in death.
God's love is other centered.
God's love is sacrifice with for the betterment of others.
God has loved us by putting us first.
Here's also what the Bible has to say about love:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Friends, this is what God is. This is what God is made up of.
Who or what is God?
God is patient, when the whole world is in a hurry.
God is kind, when every other power in existence is hateful.
God isn't selfish or boastful, unlike any person who has any amount of power.
God rejoices in the truth, while we live in a world that rejoices that they got the news first, regardless if it was true or not.
And that is what it means when we say God is love.