1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
With a promise similar to the familiar John 3:16, God shows how He loves us: He sent His only begotten Son into our world for this purpose: that we might live through Him. God is love; God loves each of us. He is not just love in a theoretical, abstract, propositional sense, but He convinces us of love in practical, real world, down to earth action. He sent, or He gave, His only son. How do I know God loves me? I look at the cross and there I see it. There He shows me clearly and brilliantly what Love looks like. It looks like sacrificing oneself, giving one’s life so another person will live better, and dying to self for the sake of another.
Love = Life. God loves so that we will live. Truly living is truly loving. We are really alive when we sacrificially give of ourselves (Love) for one another. God loves when He gives up His life (dies on the cross) so that we might live. God shares His life with us. The life of God that He graces us with is by definition eternal; it is completely without sin, evil, death, pain, or trouble of any kind. Or, it is without end. This life is joyous and completely perfect. This is living!
The problem that gets in the way of enjoying that life is that we still live in a corrupt world, full of devils, and we still have the Old Life, the sinful flesh with which we were born. Therefore, we daily repent and believe. We remember our baptism, in which the old man drowns and dies daily and the New Man arises to newness of life. This is living! This is God’s grace gift of Love and Life.