15 December | Youth
«He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.» 1 John 4:8
We cannot love if we do not know what love is. Let us start from here then. We read in 1 John 4:8 that “God is love.” The verse begins by saying that “those who do not love do not know God.” We may be tempted to think that it is enough to love to know God, but that is not what is being said here. What John is saying is that love is proof that you know God. So, it all starts with knowing who God is. No human being will be able to understand the meaning of love if they do not first know God, through faith.
What do we know about God? “God is love” is written on every bud that blooms. That is what Ellen White said. The rose has the same softness in its petals and the same cut. It has the same number of sepals: always five. The sepals make up the calyx that supports the petals. Open the core of a rose and you will see the same yellow tone in the pistils. Smell a rose and you will always smell the same aroma. What led God to create these wonders that delight our senses? There is only one answer: love. God did not need anything. When we observe the wonders of creation with a pure heart, we see God lavishing love.
Love is not something that God feels; it is something that He is. It is especially important to understand that God is love. However, it is good to remember that love is not God. There are many humanists, esotericists, spiritualists who teach that love is a divine force that guides us, a kind of positive vibration that fills the environment.
This is not true. God is not a force, a feeling, a good vibration. God is the Creator of heaven and earth. And God is a loving being because His essence is love. To know God is to know love. As human beings, we do not give rise to love; it originates in the heart of God. You do not manufacture love; you cannot imitate or falsify it. The only love we have is that which comes from God. Only those who know God know true love.