Daily Discipleship - Day 304: God Is Love

May 3, 2026

Daily Discipleship • Day 304 • Sunday, February 28, 2027

God Is Love

1 John 4:7–8

Pleasant Springs Church • ps-church.com

Scripture

1 John 4:7–8 (Greek NT / ESV) Ἀγαπητοί, ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστίν, καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται καὶ γινώσκει τὸν θεόν Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Author & Audience

Brennan Manning — former Franciscan priest and author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, whose life’s work was to convince broken people that they are loved by a God who is love itself.

Word Study

ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν

ho theos agapē estin · Greek NT

“God is love”

John does not say God has love or gives love (though both are true)—he says God is love. agapē, selfless covenant love, is not a divine attribute alongside others; it is a definition of God’s essence. Every attribute of God is expressed through this nature.

Reflection

From the writers we read together

Brennan Manning

Author of The Ragamuffin Gospel; 1934–2013

“You are loved by God exactly as you are, not as you should be.” — Abba’s Child, chapter 1

John’s logic is breathtaking: love one another, because love comes from God, because God is love. This is not sentiment—it is ontology. Love’s origin, character, and definition are found in God Himself. Anyone who truly loves is, whether they know it or not, drawing from the divine source.

Manning spent his ministry helping people believe this at a gut level, not merely a theological one. The command to love one another is grounded in what God is, not in what we can achieve. Today, ask: do I love from the overflow of being loved, or from the performance of trying to be loving? The difference changes everything.

Continue your study: God’s Family Study — Explore agape love and its place in the community of God’s family through our Romans 16 study.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, King of the Universe, God, You are love. Not just loving—You are love itself. Let that truth be my foundation today, and let it flow through me to everyone I encounter. Amen.

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