John 5:42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

Sometimes we have to see things stated in the negative to understand the positive. Our use of the word love has many meanings. I love chocolate. I love fast cars. I love the mountains. I love to fish. I love you.

In the Greek we have three words that translate love. Philo for friendly, the enjoyment of company. Eros for passion, the erotic energy of the body stimuli. Agape for love-feast, the all-encompassing sharing of self often translate in English as charity. It is foreshadowed in the parable of the Prodigal Son when the Father tells the elder son, “All that I have is thine.”

I trying to grasp the “love of God” issue I found each Greek word woefully short of God’s love. Then as I meditated upon love the expression “falling in love” took shape. The love of God is not an emotion as described by the three Greek translations, it is a force much like gravity. It draws, grounds, and holds objects of attraction. It acts upon as well as acts through its residence. It cannot attract if it does not reside. It shares its property evenly and effectively. It does not favor substance. It pulls on the feather with equal attraction as it does the bowling ball.

God’s love attracts the sinner with the same force and affect that it does the saint. The only difference between the two being residence.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

The gravity affect.