Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love (1 John 4:7-8).

Love is the totality of God’s nature. This is beyond someone having love in his heart or the ability to love; it means that He’s love personified. God is love! And because He’s love, He doesn’t have the capacity to hate; it’s not possible for God to hate. Hate is of the darkness. God is light, and in Him, there’s no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The Bible says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

Someone may reference Romans 9:13 and ask, But didn’t God say, “…Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated?” (Read Malachi 1:2-3). This is where understanding the place of poetry and prophecy, and the dichotomy of expression in the Scriptures come in. The language of the Prophets in the Old Testament shouldn’t always be interpreted at face value; you’d have to look through the words of other Prophets to interpret them. You’d also have to judge their communication in line with the revelation of God that we see in the New Testament, in the person of Jesus.

God is love. When the Holy Spirit reveals God to you and you get to know Him, His love will dominate you. This is because the more you love Him, the more like Him you become. As you meditate on His love for you, you’ll find yourself demonstrating that same love in your life.