Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of the people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord.
Embedded within, almost lost in, the various commands of Leviticus is this summary of the second Table of the Law, Love Your Neighbor! Jesus quotes this verse in the NT as the essence of the Ten Commandments: Love God, Love people. We express our love for God by loving others. God doesn’t need your love, but others do. We respond to the love of God with love for people, because He is the Lord.
God alone is the beginner, author, originator, initiator, and source of love, for God is Love. All genuine, self-giving, unconditional love comes from God. He expresses it in living technicolor in the person and work of His Son. We see the love of God in the Gospel; we believe it, we receive it, we have it by faith; then we respond to His love by reflecting God’s love. We cannot make it up, work it up, or decide on our own to love.
As examples, we do not take revenge or hold a grudge; instead, we do unto others and treat others kindly and forgive one another. This kind of loving attitude and generous goodness does not arise from a sinful heart, but it arises from the love of God for us, from the Jesus in us. “We love because He first loved us.” The love of neighbor is the good, right, proper, and necessary response to the love of God for us. It is the automatic response of faith.