Not only does God love, but it is His essence. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. And it goes on to say in verse 9, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”
The greatest expression of God’s love for us is the sending of His Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for our sins, to pay the debt we could not pay. This example of love becomes the model by which we seek to love others. As 1 John 4 concludes, “We love because he first loved us” (v19) and “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (v21). Therefore, we love others because God loves us.