We love because he [God] first loved us.
1 John 4:19 New International Version (NIV)
GOD = LOVE
Agape Love: love that is unconditional, that involves faithfulness, commitment, and is rooted in a decision rather than emotion.
Paul describes agape love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a (NIV)
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 (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. No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:9-12 (NIV)
GOD IS LOVE
GOD IS CARING
We love because he [God] first loved us.
1 John 4:19 New International Version (NIV)