1 John 4:8 says, "whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." That phrase, "God is love" had become so popular that it had been used in poems and other Christian works almost as much as John 3:16, "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." We know that God is love, but one aspect must be clarified. God is so much more than love.
God's attributes are not parts working together. They are specific ways of God that we are able to identify and understand. Love is not a part of God, but it is not God either; because if God was truly love, than love would be God and we would be putting one attribute of God above God which is disrespect of God. We must realize that words are tools to express ideas, not to create them. We cannot say that "God is love" and leave it at that because He is so much more than just one attribute, and no one attribute is greater than another, because that would imply parts and that God is designed.
God's love is powerful and cannot be overcome. God is eternal, and so is His love because of that. God is limitless, and so is His love. God is truth, and so is His love. He is not limited to love, but love flows out of Him. When we say, "God is love," we should not be saying that God is exactly like love and that we need to find love to find God. Instead, we should be saying that true love flows out of God.
We cannot put God's love above Him. I am not saying that His love is not important, because it is; but it cannot become a replacement for God. A little over a month ago, I made a post talking about the power of love, and I see that some things should be clarified out of respect for God. The main comment that I am speaking of is, "Only love could motivate Christ to die on the cross for us..." Now, the sentence expressed my thought, that love is the attribute of God that was clearly on display when He got up on the cross for us; but I want to make this clear. It is not some force known as love that moved God to act. True love comes from God, and it was His giving of love that we saw on the cross. No outside force can make God do anything. If there was such a force, it would be God. Love was the attribute on display.
We must praise God for being loving, because His love is true and personal; but we must not get carried away and make this attribute a god of its own. Let our words express our thoughts, not create them. God is love because He is the perfect example of true love. Why? Because He has perfect love. His love is not distant, either. It is close, personal, and waiting to be accepted by all.
-D
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