Love-A Precious Quality- What IS LOVE?

Even though it is very difficult to explain exactly what love is, the Bible describes how a loving person thinks and acts.  For example, a loving person is "patient and kind" and "rejoices with the truth." When a person has love, he "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." He has a deep affection  for others, he really cares for them, and he is a loyal friend.  But when  a person does not have love, he is jealous, proud, indecent, selfish, and unforgiving.  Instead of showing negative qualities like those, we want to show genuine love for others, the kind of love that "does not look for its own interests." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  

JEHOVAH AND JESUS SET THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF LOVE

"God is love."  (1 John 4:8) All his works and actions prove that.  His greatest act of love toward mankind was sending Jesus to the earth to suffer and die for us.  The apostle John said:  "By this love of God was revealed in our case, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might gain life through him.  The love in this respect not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as  a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins."  (1 John 4:9, 10) Because of God's love, our sins can be forgiven and we can have hope and life. 

Jesus showed that he love mankind by sacrificing his life to do God's will.  The apostle Paul tells us:  "By this 'will' we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time."  (Hebrews 10:9, 10)  No human could show greater love.  Jesus said:  "No one has greater love than this, that someone should surrender his life in behalf of his friends."  (John 15:13) Can imperfect humans imitate the love Jehovah and Jesus have shown?  Yes! Let us consider how we can do so. 

Next time: Love-A Precious Quality - "GO ON WALKING IN LOVE"

From the jw.org. publications