Did you know there are lots and lots of different meanings for the word “love”? The Bible has A LOT to say about love. So much so that we don’t have time to talk about every Bible verse that mentions the word. In fact, the type of Bible translation that I’m using mentions love 551 times! Woah!

Here are a few major things I want us to know about God’s love though.

1 John 4:19 says that “we love because He first loved us.” God loved us first. He didn’t wait on us to love Him before He returned that love. He loved us before we were even born! And this verse reminds us that He Himself is the definition of love. We love because He first loved us.

And also, His love for us and our love for Him makes us do things. Sorta like how your love for a certain food makes you crave it or how your love for a friend makes you want to play with them. Another way to say it is that love is action. Love isn’t JUST a feeling, it makes us do certain actions.

Mark 21:31 tells us to love our neighbor as ourself. And 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 talks about what actions go along with love. Listen to this: “Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs. Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up. Love never fails.”

Okay, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1.     How is God’s love different from other types of love?

2.     How do you know that God loves you?

3.     How can you show love to someone today?

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

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