How Loving is God?

The Apostle John writes that "God is love." But how do we define love? The American Heritage Dictionary defines love as "an intense affection for another person based on familial or personal ties." Often that "intense affection" stems from sexual attraction for aother person. We love them when we feel attracted to them, and when we think we can gain satisfaction from them. That indicates that we love conditionally; in others words, we love a person when they fulfill a condition that we require before we'll be willing to release our heart's affection toward them. We hear someone say, "I love him, he's so cute;" which means that we love because of a physically pleasing appearance. Or someone else adds, "I love her, she's so sweet;" meaning, "I love her because she treats me well." In each case we have imposed conditions in connection with our love.

Our love is not only conditional, it is also mercurial. That is, our love is based on feelings and emotions that are subject to change from one moment to the next. The divorce rate is extremely high in our society precisely at this point. Couples go through tough spots in their marriage and conclude they have fallen out of love. How often we hear a person say, "I still love him, but I'm not in love with him anymore." Evidently, the marriage vow of "till death do us part" means the death of the love that led to the altar in the first place.

When we read that "God is love," we are to understand that His love is neither conditional nor mercurial; God loves unconditionally, and because He is unchangeable in His nature, that love will never die nor fade away. Can anyone comprehend unconditional love? Perhaps the love of parent toward child is the closet we can get to unconditional love, at least without help from the Lord. God's love is truly unconditional, and is not based on any requirements we must meet, or any emotions He might feel. He doesn't love us because we are loveable, or because we make Him feel good. He loves us because He Himself is love.

Why do you think this aspect of the divine character is so appealing to human kind. And by the way, regardless of whether the love we offer ever achieves the godly standard, we still want to know that we are loved without conditions. So help me out; why are we so drawn to this attirbute of God?