You can't really understand God's love until you experience it. You can hear sermons and songs about the love of God and still not really understand. The love of God is more than sentimental religious talk. It's not vain words about wishful thinking. It's reality only to those who experience it.
God's love comes to you always and only as a gift. That means we can never earn nor deserve God's unconditional love. He is not waiting for you to become good enough to love you. Quite to the contrary, He loves you now. Yet, His love may not be real to you.
Only the Holy Spirit can make God's love real to you. He can make it more than an academic study of words from the Bible. He makes it real to your heart. Then, you understand God's love for you at the cross of Jesus.
"Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
who was given to us."
Romans 5:5
