08/21/2026
What you’re expressing is powerful: many people desire deep love, but they can only give love from the depth they have experienced or allowed God to develop within them.
Sometimes what we call love is only the surface reflection of love—how we were treated growing up, what we observed in relationships, or what life taught us. But God invites us deeper. Scripture says, “We love because He first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19.
To love from the heart of God means allowing Him to redefine love beyond our wounds, disappointments, family patterns, and past relationships. It means discovering that we were created not only to receive genuine love, but also to become vessels through which His love reaches others.
And that is where staying grounded becomes difficult. We want to love, but hurt tells us to withdraw. Rejection tells us to protect ourselves. Disappointment tells us, “Don’t give that much again.” Yet God continues working on the heart, teaching us that genuine love is deeper than emotion.
We cannot allow the people who loved us poorly to become the definition of what love is.
Jesus becomes our definition.
His love goes beneath the surface. It searches the heart. It heals what biological family, friendships, marriages, and relationships may have wounded. And as we receive His love more deeply, we learn to love others—not merely from what was modeled to us, but from the heart of God.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.” — 1 John 4:7
