This article is part of a yearlong series exploring one foundational biblical word each month. This month, we are focusing on LOVE. Subscribe to the Sunday Morning Newsletter and catch up on the entire series at amac.us/faith.
Last week, we began where Scripture begins: with God Himself. We are told not simply that God loves, but that God is love (1 John 4:8). Love is not something God does occasionally; it flows from who He is.
And yet, this truth immediately confronts us with a challenge.
God is holy – set apart, different, other. He is all-powerful, unbound by time and space, infinite in wisdom, and beyond the limits of human comprehension. Isaiah saw Him seated on a throne so vast that the train of His robe filled the temple, surrounded by angels crying out, “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:1–3). Faced with that vision, Isaiah did not feel affirmed or comforted. He felt undone.
So how does a God like this make His love known? He does so by coming to us.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). In Jesus Christ, the holy and incomprehensible God made Himself visible and approachable. The disciples heard His voice, watched His compassion, and walked beside Him. God’s love was no longer an abstraction – it had hands and feet.
Because we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27), we are relational beings. From the beginning of our lives to the end, we seek love relentlessly. We pursue it in relationships, approval, success, and belonging. We do not merely want love; we need it. That longing is not accidental – it is placed within us by a relational God.
The question is not whether we will love, but how.
Agape: Love With Direction
Scripture uses a specific Greek word to describe the love God shows us and calls us to reflect: agape.
Agape is not a feeling. It is not attraction, chemistry, or emotional warmth. Biblically defined, agape is a deliberate choice to seek the good of another, regardless of cost or emotion.
A simple way to say it is this: agape means choosing what is best for someone.
That definition forces a necessary and uncomfortable question:
What is best?
Agape does not mean giving people what they want. It means giving them what they need.
And those two things often collide.
When God’s Love Feels Bad.
This is where our understanding of love must deepen.
God’s love always has an objective – and that objective is restoration that leads to true life. God is not merely trying to make us comfortable; He is repairing what sin has broken. And restoration often requires suffering.
Scripture repeatedly teaches that suffering is one of the primary tools God uses to refine, shape, and restore His people. The Bible describes this process as refinement by fire. Fire does not destroy what is valuable – it burns away what does not belong.
Job lost his wealth, his health, and his family. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, and imprisoned unjustly. Paul endured a “thorn in the flesh” that God refused to remove. In each case, suffering served a restoring purpose that comfort never could.
Joseph would later say to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). That statement does not deny the pain – it reveals God’s larger work. What was broken was being repaired.
The Cross: Restoration Through Suffering
Nowhere is this clearer than at the cross.
Imagine standing with the disciples at its foot. Jesus – innocent, wise, compassionate – is beaten, mocked, and crucified. From their perspective, this must have looked like the worst possible outcome. Everything they believed about Him appeared to be unraveling. How could God allow this?
But God is not bound by time as we are. He sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). What appeared to be the ultimate tragedy was, in fact, the most loving act in human history.
At the cross, God did not give humanity what it wanted. He gave humanity what it needed.
Forgiveness. Redemption. Restoration.
Jesus suffered not because the Father lacked love, but because love demanded a remedy for sin that comfort could never provide. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
What looked like death was, in truth, the pathway to life.
Loving Like God Loves
This understanding reshapes how we love.
In parenting, this truth is obvious. Loving parents do not give children everything they ask for. They discipline, correct, and say no – not because they enjoy causing discomfort, but because they are committed to restoration and growth. Scripture tells us that discipline, though painful in the moment, produces “a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Hebrews 12:11).
The same principle applies beyond the home.
Love in society is not defined by indulgence or affirmation at all costs. Love seeks truth, order, and justice – because these are necessary for human flourishing. Boundaries are not unloving. Law is not unloving. Telling the truth is not unloving.
Agape refuses to affirm what destroys. It refuses to call brokenness wholeness. It seeks restoration, even when that path is difficult or unpopular.
True love does not ask, What will make you feel better right now?
It asks, What will lead you back to life?
Love With an Objective
God’s love is not vague or sentimental. It is purposeful, costly, and redemptive.
If God loves us with a love that restores – even through suffering – then loving others means reflecting that same commitment to truth and life. Agape love chooses what heals, what rebuilds, and what leads to true flourishing under God’s design.
Love has an objective.
And that objective is restoration that leads to true life.
Prayer Prompt
Dear Lord,
Thank You that Your love does not leave us broken or unchanged. Even when the path is difficult and the process painful, You are at work restoring what sin has damaged and leading us toward true life. Help us trust You when obedience feels costly and suffering feels confusing. Teach us to seek what is best – not only what is easy – and to love others with the same restoring love You have shown us in Christ. Shape our hearts by Your truth, refine us through Your grace, and make us new by the power of the cross.
Amen.
This Week’s Daily Scripture Readings (Monday–Saturday)
- Monday: Psalm 34:18 – God draws near to restore the brokenhearted.
- Tuesday: Hebrews 12:10–11 – Discipline restores us for righteousness and peace.
- Wednesday: James 1:2–4 – Trials mature our faith and restore what is lacking.
- Thursday: Genesis 50:20 – God redeems harm by restoring it for good.
- Friday: Romans 5:8–11 – The cross restores our relationship with God.
- Saturday: 2 Corinthians 5:17 – In Christ, we are made new for true life.
Take a few moments each day to read, reflect, and pray through these passages. Ask the Lord to help you trust His restoring work – especially in areas where love feels costly and obedience feels hard.
Jonathan Griffin, Director of Membership Marketing at AMAC | Former pastor & professor | Current husband & father | Redeemed sinner, saved by grace.
Thank you for clearing up the definition of LOVE!
Most people define love as an emotional attachment to another person, or as in the Hippie Era, love was defined as not rules or regulations, just do what you feel, i.e., no restraints in actions.
God’s Love is a personal relationship with each of us, and it is our choice whether to accept that gift or reject it. If we accept that Jesus gave his life on the Cross, so we could have an eternal life with God and not have to pay the death penalty for sins. He took our sins (one without sin) upon His body to free us. Repentance for our own personal sin and accepting the Gift of Salvation by accepting Jesus as our personal Savior is a free gift. Take it or pay the death penalty for your own sin and lose eternal life.
“Why does God let bad things happen to good people.” This is the best answer to that age-old question I’ve ever seen. Thank you.
These beliefs completely contradict Islam and support the Judeo-Christian Western concept of God and the foundations of this American society and values, which has created the most vibrant, exceptional country in the world, and in all of history, the Unite States.
If all the sky and expanse was paper and all the waters in the world were ink. There would not be enough ink and paper to write a definition of GOD’s love. BUT WE HAVE THE Opportunity to actually see it in action. Meditating on HIS word as HE said we should do, will allow us to receive wisdom and understanding like HE told Gabriel to give to Daniel.
Proof once again that anything the radical leftwing liberals say are LIES. Further, they and all the LGBTQ+ are mentally ill. A genuine desire to mutilate one’s body or to practice unimaginable, unnatural sexual perversions, acts not even found in the animal world, is not only demented but pure evil and is without question, a mental sickness.
The AMA, incompetent shrinks, doctors school counselors, and all others involved in these inhumane practices, psychological madness, and physical butchery of minors should not only be sued for hundreds of millions of dollars, but have their medical licenses permanently revoked, and be fired.
Beautifully written! Thank you for this message, and thank you AMAC for sharing faith forward content!
Since we didn’t cut off your head you are able and free to vote!