Love....like God

1 John 3:18 NIV:
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Love is probably one of the most misunderstood and misapplied word in the English diction today. We see its variants and versions on display in various times and places; we see its 'expression' in various forms too, but in the real sense, what exactly is love?
I believe that one of God's revelations to man is his desire for us to understand love from his own perspective. Love is so deep and so comprehensive thst you can never experience its true version outside of its source and inspiration. We call some of the things we see around us 'love', but in the real sense, they are infatuations, lusts, inordinate desires and emotional attachments. Whatever does not seek to bring out the best of God in you, whatever seeks to belittle your value, making you dependent on other people's opinions of you, whatever seeks to make you an emotional slave to someone else can never be defined as love as God is not any of those things. God is a liberator, someone whose love sets our hearts free to also love other people the way we are loved also. God's love is a refuge and a source of strength, giving you a place of security even when the one you seek to show love to hates you in return. That is the fundamentals of God's love: it is not dependent on a reciprocal gesture from the other person. I don't love you simply because you also love me in return; I love you simply because the love of God has been set in my own heart. That is true love.
How much of that true love do we have? Can I overlook faults and love others? Can I consistently show love to people who despise me? Can I keep loving others when all I get is hatred in return? Yes you can, as long as your heart is occupied by the personality of true love, which is God himself.
Nothing else can prove your heart's contents as much as the actions of your life. Let your actions and motives reflect the quiet confidence that only the love of God can produce. His time of favour is here.