what is love?

"you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

deuteronomy 6:5

i find it fascinating (and indicative of the character of God) that God commands love above all things - not sacrifice or obedience or submission as priority. but rather, love is his top command. 

and so i ask the question: what is love?

it was in love that God chose His people (His one-way oath of grace to abram in genesis 15). it was in love that He rescued His people from egypt "to be a people of his own inheritance (deuteronomy 4:20). it was in love He preserved a remnant during the exile (isaiah 43:4) and gave lives in exchange for His chosen israel. in love God saw mankind and sent His beloved Son Jesus to die on our behalf (john 3:16). in love "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him" (2 corinthians 5:21). and in love Jesus is preparing a place for His beloved Bride. one day the King - Yahweh - will throw the biggest and best wedding feast of all time - the consummation of His far-reaching, ever-forgiving, all-renewing love. the good news i'm finding is that God didn't just command love and expect His people to know what He meant, making up "real love" on their own. He loved from the beginning, that His people might be loved and then love in return. 

lately i've struggled with what it means to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your might." but i'm finding that experiencing the true love of the Lover of my soul sets me free to love Him in radical ways as He so evidently loves us. 

oh how He loves us!