Scripture tells us that God is Love. (1 John 4:8)
Romans 5:5 tells us the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
Our understanding of the word love has been diminished by commercialization. The God kind of love compelled God to send his son Jesus to be punished and suffer death to save humans from the second death. That same love caused Jesus, who is God to lay aside his position of authority as God. He endured being encased in a human body, suffered, and died, knowing he would have to go to hell, defeat the devil, and be resurrected. That was all nasty but necessary for our redemption.
Human love compels a human to leave his family to pursue his own family with a human who becomes his priority. A new family is created out of a love for one another. That is still not the God kind of love.
Affection is a gentle feeling of fondness or liking. A human might have affection for another human and say they are friends. The word friend has been minimized. A human might refer to another person as a friend when they barely know them. That is an acquaintance. A friend, in the covenant relationship, is more than an acquaintance. If we look at the example of David and Jonathan we see two humans who were not sexually involved or attracted to each other physically. Sex had nothing to do with their relationship. David and Jonathan loved one another more than they loved themselves. That selfless devotion is more than affection. 1 Samuel 18 tells us that David and Jonathan’s souls were knit together and Jonathan loved David as his own soul. Humans who love God recognize that love in others.
There is a difference between love and respect. Humans have the capacity to love someone without respecting them. Too often that is the reason humans terminate a relationship. There may have been attributes that caused one human to want to spend time with another. A human can display characteristics that are admired by another without possessing the needed skills to care for another human or express genuine affection. It is possible for a human to have great affection for another and at the same time not trust them. Feelings of affection can range from mildly fond to experiencing physical reactions at the sight of another human. Emotions can be influenced in several ways.
There is a difference between physical attraction and love. A human may enjoy looking at another individual and that causes the human to want to see them and spend time with that human. That physical attraction is not enough to maintain a relationship.
24 In order for a human to love someone with extraordinary love, the way God loves, that human has to look beyond physical attributes to the spirit and soul of a human. Romans 5:8 tells us, while we were sinners, Christ died for us. God’s love reached beyond human faults. God is Faith; he lives by faith and operates in faith. God sees in humans something redeemable. By faith, Love sees what humans can be and extends himself to help.