Written by Gan Tv’s Managing Editor and adapted from Jamie Englehart’s The Foundation Series God is Love.
God is Love: The Foundation of Faith
At the core of our faith journey is the desire to truly know God—not as a distant, abstract figure but as a loving, relational Father. Yet, many of us wrestle with perceptions of God shaped by many of our westernized doctrines, inaccurate interpretations of Scripture and how these things will distort our beliefs even with our own personal experiences. These influences cloud our understanding, making it harder to see the God as revealed through Christ who said “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father”. Seeing God through a Christ-centered perspective compels us to question and re-examine these things, and they should. Because God is Love and His mercy is new each day. His nature matters and we see through the life of Christ who was moved by love, kindness, compassion, healing and peace that our Father is relational first. This is a foundation of truth and our faith.
Misunderstanding His Nature
Throughout history, humanity has struggled to fully grasp the true nature of God. The law and the prophets provided glimpses—partial reflections that were like seeing Him “through a veil” because they were trying to get to Him through the law and sacrifices. They saw Him as a judge and not a Father. This by its nature kept people distant from God and at worst inventing a god in their own image. These incomplete understandings sometimes led to justifications for actions far removed from the heart of God’s love and grace.
History offers sobering examples of the damage caused by distorted views of God. From the misuse of Scripture to justify slavery to the atrocities fueled by figures like Hitler, these misrepresentations remind us how critical it is to see God as He truly is. When we portray Him as wrathful and punitive, we risk overshadowing the beautiful truth of a loving, forgiving Father revealed in the incarnation and through the person of Jesus Christ.
Communion Is Our Union
The Lord’s Supper stands as a powerful reminder of God’s relentless love for humanity. In this sacred act, Jesus invites us to partake in His life, demonstrating unshakable union that He desires with each of us. It’s a tender reminder that, no matter our rebellion or blindness, (think Judas in this moment) God’s love never wavers. He doesn’t push us away but gently draws us closer, into a relationship, even His betrayers included, and this is the love that transforms and heals.
This is the God we’re called to know—a God whose essence is love, grace, and compassion. Through Christ, He reveals the Father’s heart and He reshapes ours, drawing us into a life of faith marked by the same love that He so freely gives.
God is Our Father
... for reason of this I bow my knees to the Father, from whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, Ephesians 3:14-15
God is our Father. He is the Father of every family on this earth. We see that many people do not know Him as Father and many have yet to know Him as such. But at the heart of knowing God is knowing His Fatherhood. He is deeply relational in nature. He isn’t a distant, stern judge but a loving Father who longs for intimacy with His children. This isn’t just a theological concept—it’s how Jesus revealed Him to us. God’s greatest desire is not blind obedience but a close, heartfelt relationship with us.
When we see God this way, it changes everything. It reshapes how we see ourselves and others, reminding us that we are all created in His image and deeply valued. This understanding leads to a life of reconciliation and grace, where our actions reflect the loving character of God we’ve come to know.
The Foundation of Love
When Scripture declares that “God is love,” it’s not describing just one of His attributes—it’s revealing the very core of who He is. Everything God does flows from this truth. His love shapes our faith, and a rightful view of this Love even influences how we read Scripture. It guides how we engage with the world in which we live.
Sometimes, people wrestle with the tension between God’s love and His justice, but they aren’t opposing forces. In God, justice and love are perfectly united. His justice isn’t about punishment or retribution; it’s about restoration and reconciliation. The prophet Zechariah tells us even in the Old Testament “Thus has the LORD of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion each to his brother; Zechariah 7:9 True justice, as God demonstrates, is always motivated by His mercy and compassion and desire to bring all things into wholeness in Him.
God Is Love
The Apostle John makes an extraordinary and unshakable statement about God: He is Love. John doesn’t qualify this by adding a “but” at the end as we often hear in modern preaching. He simply declares the truth. This love is Agape. Agape is so pure and transformative that, as John also tells us, it is perfect and “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). When we truly encounter God’s love, fear is driven out of our hearts and replaced with freedom and peace.
This revelation will challenge us to re-examine all the fear-based doctrines about God past down in modern Christianity. It will shift the way we interpret Scripture, and draw us deeper into the riches of His goodness. We begin to question interpretations that seem to contradict His love, and that process is both healthy and necessary. Paul warns us about the dangers of “dead letter literalism,” which leads to condemnation and keeps us blinded to God’s true nature. But it is His kindness—not fear or judgment—that transforms our hearts and changes the way we think.
When we understand that God’s nature is love, everything starts to fall into place at the foundational level. A more patristic and proper interpretation of Scripture through the lens of Jesus—the Living Word—helps untangle fear and confusion. Instead of being weighed down by fear-based teachings, we are freed to live authentically, allowing His love and light to overflow into our lives and communities. Anchoring ourselves in God’s love doesn’t just transform us; it empowers us to reflect His grace and bring hope to a broken world. This is the life Jesus demonstrated and has now deposited into humanity —a life rooted in the love of a Father who knows us, treasures us, and calls us into an unshakable relationship with Him.
Jesus Christ Reveals the Father Perfectly
Jesus is the Word made flesh—the perfect revelation of the Father. Through Jesus, we learn that God is not distant or detached; He deeply desires connection with humanity. His love is so profound that He became one of us, putting on flesh to walk among us. He came to heal, deliver, restore, and embrace those who felt alienated from God.
Jesus was unapologetically relational, unafraid to touch the untouchable and welcome the outcasts. He dined with sinners, forgave them before they even sought Him, and extended compassion to the broken. He healed lepers with a touch, covered the shamed, and loved unconditionally. His actions revealed the Father’s heart—a love so deep that even “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Through Jesus, we see the fullness of God’s love in action—a love that invites, restores, and liberates. It’s a love that casts out fear, and reveals the Father in ultimate unwavering Truth. We receive this lavish grace in confident trust and the security and peace of knowing we are unconditionally loved. This is the God we are called to know: a God who proves His love not through fear or wrath, but through relentless kindness and mercy.
This understanding changes everything, freeing us to live a life of love, grace, and compassion that reflects the heart of God to the world.
May we all truly know Him this way and anchor our lives in the love of God!
Watch Jamie on Gan Tv at Grace For All
Connect to Jamie Englehart at Connection International Ministries
