Love: Of God, For God, From God
Tobi Michael
September 17, 2025
Imagine a loveless world that is dark and cold. A world without love quickly becomes a place of strife, selfishness, and emptiness. “God is love” (1 John 4:8), and it is by His love that all creatures came into being and continue to exist. From the beginning, God demonstrated His love in making man in His image (Genesis 1:26–27). This love forms the foundation of our faith and the anchor of our hope.
The article explores love in three perspectives as a Christian: love of God, love for God, and love from God. It delves into how God’s love is sacrificial, demonstrated through Jesus Christ, and how this love should lead to love for God expressed in obedience and devotion. Ultimately, love from God flows through believers to bless others, transforming lives and witnessing to God’s power.
The love of God is first experienced in His actions toward us. He sought us when we were lost, forgave us when we were guilty, and saved us when we were helpless (Romans 5:8). His love is sacrificial, demonstrated evidently at the cross of Jesus Christ. This divine love is not earned by good works but freely given. And the only appropriate way to acknowledge and reciprocate as a Christian is love for God, love that is not mere lip service but expressed in obedience and devotion. Jesus declared the greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Love for God cannot exist in isolation, it should always overflow into love for others. True love for God is therefore measured by how we treat those made in His image. It is love expressed in compassion and in sacrifice especially in putting others before ourselves (1 Corinthians 8:9–13).
This kind of love becomes most evident when tested. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, standing before Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace, declared their refusal to bow to idols out of love and loyalty to God even if it cost them their lives (Daniel 3:16–18). Joseph, in the secrecy of Potiphar’s house, chose purity over pleasure because his love for God made sin unthinkable (Genesis 39:9). Peter, even though he denied Christ, was restored on the basis of love Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love Me?” (John 21:15–17), and upon his confession, entrusted him with feeding His flock. Stephen, as stones crushed his body, prayed for his executioners, crying, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” as Jesus did earlier on the cross for those that crucified him. These are not acts of human strength but of divine love, love flowing from God into the hearts of His children, enabling them to live beyond self and beyond offense.
History also testifies to the transforming power of this love. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, when plagues swept across the Roman Empire, entire cities were paralyzed by fear. Families abandoned their sick relatives, the streets filled with the dying, and pagan priests fled their temples. Yet Christians stayed. Moved by the love of Christ, they nursed the sick, buried the dead, and comforted the grieving, even at the cost of their own lives. Eusebius recorded that their compassion was “on everyone’s lips,” and even Emperor Julian, who opposed Christianity, admitted in frustration that the “Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well.” What medicine could not do, love accomplished. The Church grew, not by conquest or wealth, but by love that was stronger than fear, more powerful than death, and undeniably divine. This historical witness reminds us that love is the Church’s greatest apologetic.
what makes love so important to us as Christians is because it is the very proof of knowing God “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Love fulfills the law (Romans 13:10) and secures our identity as disciples of Christ “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Love edifies the church and protects us from stumbling, for when love for God consumes our hearts, sin loses its appeal and obedience becomes our joy (Psalm 119:97). Without love, faith becomes ritual, service becomes duty, and Christianity becomes empty religion. But with love, everything is transformed, worship becomes delight, obedience and sacrifice becomes joy.
The love of God sustains creation, the love for God fuels our obedience, and the love from God flows through us to bless others. Christianity without love is not Christianity at all. True love is sacrificial and transformational. As Paul concludes, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). May our lives echo this truth, and may our hearts continually be filled with His love, until His love overflows from us into the world.
In conclusion, love is the heartbeat of Christianity. God’s love initiates and sustains creation and redemption. Love for God fuels obedience and devotion, while love from God flows through believers to bless others. As Christians, love is the proof of knowing God (“God is love” – 1 John 4:8) and secures our identity as disciples (“By this all will know that you are My disciples” – John 13:35). True love is sacrificial and transformational. “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). May our lives echo this truth, filled with His love, overflowing into the world.
Tobi Michael is a seasoned marketing executive who serves as the Social Media & Content Manager for GIVA
Ministries International. A proud alumnus of the University of Ilorin with a degree in Physics, Tobi currently resides in Lagos, where he leverages his expertise to drive impactful content and social media strategies for the ministry
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