4 Ways God’s Love Is The Greatest Love Imaginable

God’s love is the greatest love imaginable and unimaginable — it is a love beyond anything we could imagine; far more than we could hope for. God’s love is not at all like human love. Do we even know what love is anymore? The word “love” and sentiment behind it have been so watered down over the years that it hardly resembles anything real. While this list is not extensive, below are four ways God’s love is the greatest love imaginable.

Love is love or God is love?

God is love — you’ve heard it, everyone says it, but what does it mean? 1 John 4:16 ESV says, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Love is God’s very essence — it is who He is. God cannot cease to love; he is the true meaning of love. Of course, I can’t say God is love without saying God is just — and righteous and Holy. God’s love and justice go hand in hand and one cannot be without the other.

I think the best example of God’s love and justice working together perfectly is seen in John 3:16:

God loved the world! God loved the world so much that He made the ultimate sacrifice:  He offered up Jesus Christ, his only Son, as a replacement for us to receive the judgment that WE deserved. Jesus gave his life so that we morally corrupt sinners could live in eternity with a Holy and righteous God instead of having to be separated from Him and dead in spirit (because holiness and sin cannot co-exist). That to me is unimaginable love. 

Agape Love 

Like I said above, God’s love is not like the world’s. The love that is of and from God is called Agape. Agape love is not mushy, gushy, or sentimental – it’s not even a feeling. In contrast, agape love is rooted in action and is unconditional, sacrificial, selfless, and unmerited. In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 says it best:

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.

In our fallen state we are not capable of such love. We need Jesus and the help and power of the Holy Spirit to love God and others with Agape love. How blessed are we to have a God who is Agape love and loves us with the greatest love imaginable!

Abba – Heavenly Father

As believers in Christ we are God’s children and He is our Heavenly Father. A parent’s love is the strongest love on earth. How much more does our Heavenly Father, who is Holy, perfect, and righteous, love us! Even the best, most loving parent is flawed and makes mistakes. But God is perfect – His love is perfect and He knows us better than our earthly parents because He made us. 

For you created my inmost being;     you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13

Laying in bed on yet another sleepless night I thought my heart would beat out of my chest. In the stillness I could hear the thumping that rushed blood throughout my body and told me I was alive. I knew then that God was present in that moment; that God had made my heart and sustained my life. It was such a beautiful moment in which I acutely felt God’s love. 

Friend, I don’t know how your relationship is with your earthly father but I can tell you mine is nonexistent. Every father figure I’ve had in my life has failed me, to say the least. Because of this, seeing God as my Father hasn’t come easily. Learning to rely on Him completely has been a battle, but it does fill me with peace and gratitude knowing I have the perfect Father who ALWAYS wants what’s best for me. 

Like a father God leads, protects, instructs, corrects and showers us with His love and blessings.

Christ and His bride, the church

One of the most moving pictures of God’s love for us is that of Christ and His bride, the church. Throughout scripture Jesus is depicted as a bridegroom — loving, caring, and joyful — and the church, which is all believers, is depicted as a beloved bride. Why is this so significant and beautiful? Because marriage is a covenant, a union, in which husband and wife mutually love, give, care, and sacrifice (at least that’s what God intended marriage to be), as Paul says in Ephesians 5:25-32:

Husbands, love your wives, just as also Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, to make her holy, cleansing her in the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh, but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Like a loving and devoted husband Jesus leads, protects, provides for, cares for, and delights in His bride (that’s us!). And again, this is not done in the flawed and limited way of humans. No friend, God is perfect and Holy and good. Always good.

 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. Psalm 68:5

I pray we wouldn’t take God’s love, the greatest love imaginable, for granted. I know how easy it is to do so. That’s why it’s important – critical, really – to be in God’s word. If you are having some trouble seeing God’s love for you I want to challenge you to open your Bible and ask Him to show you! You can also check out our Resources page HERE to find Bible studies and Bible study tools. 

Read: The Right View Of The Word Of God