Defining love

If God is love, then what is love itself? The bible does not hesitate to use the word love, though the English translation barely does the original meanings justice. In Greek, there are four words for love; three of them appear in New Testament scripture, and agape love appears the most. Agape love is selfless and unremitting. Agape love has no expectation of being loved in return. There is no need to love only the lovable or anticipate any type of reward. This love is freely offered from oneself in a spirit of sacrifice.

This is God's love, abundant and limitless and unceasing. He is not simply love, but agape love. Only from God can we know this love; He is the author of self-sacrifical giving. We are only capable of it because God led the way. Jesus, through sacrificial death, demonstrated not only the reality of agape love, but the power it possesses. This love is an outpouring from an always full pitcher. This love does not simply exist; it suffuses our life, so thoroughly present that we can't even see it.