In this article, I would like to provide you with verses from the Bible shows God’s love, that He is love, and the importance and rewards of loving Him. The article is divided into the following simple and short sections:
1. God is the lover of mankind
2. How much did God love you?
3. How did Jesus Express His love to us?
4. The Power of Love
5. The Importance of Love
6. The Depth of Love
7. The Effect of Love
8. The Reward of Love
May God help us understand His divine and immortal love.
1. God is the lover of mankind
“But because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” [Deuteronomy 7:8].
“Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you” [Deuteronomy 23:5].
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” [Romans 5:5].
“Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” [2 Corinthians 13:11].
2. How much did God love you?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” [John 3:16].
“For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” [John 16:27].
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” [John 15:9].
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” [Romans 8:32].
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [Romans 5:8].
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” [Galatians 2:20].
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” [1 John 3:1].
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” [1 John 4:8-10].
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” [Ephesians 2:4-5].
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma…Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” [Ephesians 5:2-25].
“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” [Revelation 1:5].
3. How did Jesus Express His love to us?
“Jesus wept” [John 11:35].
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” [John 13:1].
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another’ [John 13:34].
“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” [John 17:22-23].
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” [2 Corinthians 8:9].
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” [Galatians 2:20].
“But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” [Philippians 2:7-8].
“Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle--I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying--a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into Transgression” [1Timothy 2:6-14].
“He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” [Hebrews 9:26].
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” [1 Peter 3:18].
“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” [Revelation 1:5].
“And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” [Ephesians 5:2].
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” [Ephesians 5:25].
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” [Ephesians 2:4-5].
4. The Power of Love
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her” [Genesis 29:20].
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” [1 Corinthians 13:1-3].
5. The Importance of Love
“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” [Romans 13:8].
“Let all that you do be done with love” [1 Corinthians 16:14].
“May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height” [Ephesians 3:18].
“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy” [Philippians 2:1].
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” [Colossians 3:14].
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good Works” [Hebrews 10:24].
“Let brotherly love continue” [Hebrews 13:1].
“And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” [2 Corinthians 5:15].
“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death” [1 John 3:10-14].
6. The Depth of Love
“Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there” [Genesis 43:30].
“Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled” [John 11:33].
7. The Effect of Love
a) It eases hardship
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her” [Genesis 29:20].
“Jacob fled to the country of Syria; Israel served for a spouse, and for a wife he tended sheep” [Hosea 12:12].
b) It seasons food
“Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred” [Proverbs 15:17].
c) It covers sins
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins” [Proverbs 10:12].
d) It completes our understanding of God’s commandments
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” [John 13:34].
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” [John 14:15].
“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” [1 Timothy 1:5].
“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” [1 John 2:5].
e) It shares happiness and sorrow
“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you” [2 Corinthians 2:4].
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” [Romans 12:15].
8. The Reward of Love
“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister” [Hebrews 6:10].
“And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, ‘I suppose the one whom he forgave more’. And He said to him, ‘You have rightly judged’. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon: Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” [Luke 7:42-47].
