Originally published at The Catholic Thing
The thing that God really wants from us is love, and there are several ways we know this. One of the ways is that Scripture flat-out tells us that God himself is love. In 1 John 4, we read: “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). Love is a major theme in the Gospels. In one of the most famous verses—John 3:16—we read: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That’s one of the key ways God manifests his love for us: he sent his Son to save us. But love is not only one of God’s characteristics. It’s something he also expects of us.
