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).
God is good and He is also love. It is His love, after all, that motivated Him to send Jesus into this world.
Love is more than something God shows, it is who He is (1 John 4:8). It is His nature.
Our fallen nature is not to love but to hate. Contrary to what the world says, kids don’t learn to hate, they hate because they are sinners. Cain’s hatred of Abel flowed out of his sinful heart.
Our human idea of love is very selfish. Look at the “love and hugs” crowd which is intolerant of those who don’t have their sappy vision of a humanistic world. They “love” you as long as you’re a liberal. That’s the sinful world’s concept of love. It’s based on a value of return. As Christians, our ideas and values flow from the Bible. The world’s love doesn’t describe God’s love or the love that He expects from us.
God’s love is not based on anything in us or even about us. As sinners, enemies, and haters of God, we are wholly unlovable (Romans 5:5-11). In me no good thing dwells (Romans 7:18).
Just as God is eternal (Jeremiah 31:3), so is His love. He didn’t decide one day when we did something pleasing that He’d love us. As His elect, He loved us before the world was even created (Ephesians 1:4). His love, which had no beginning, also has no ending!
He loves whom He chooses. As twins, Jacob and Esau had the same parents, were born at the same time, and raised the same way, yet God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Malachi 1:1; Romans 9:13). His love is as sovereign as He is, dependent upon nothing but the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:5). It is immeasurable and inseparable (Romans 8:35-39).
God’s love isn’t emotional, for emotions change upon circumstances. His love is holy and pure, and thus He cannot wink at sin. Love does not let sin have its own way or go unpunished (Hebrews 12:6). Love does what is best for the loved one, and so God gave Jesus to die for us
Where Living Begins 