Could you provide a lecture on the characteristics of God’s love, why our love for Him fades, and how to restore it?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

This lecture explores the mystery of the love of God, which is the foundation of our existence and our salvation. In the Coptic Orthodox tradition, God’s love is not a mere feeling but a transformative power that defines His very nature.

I. Characteristics of God’s Love

To understand how to love God, we must first understand how He loves us.

1. It is Preceding and Initiating

God did not wait for us to improve before He loved us. As St. Augustine and St. John the Beloved teach, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Before we even existed, His love conceived of our creation. As the liturgical prayers of St. Gregory the Theologian state, He created us not because He needed our service, but because of His "compassion" and desire to share His glory.

2. It is Sacrificial and Incarnational

The supreme characteristic of God’s love is the Incarnation of the Word. God did not love us from a distance; He "bowed the heavens and came down." This love is defined by the Cross. Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, demonstrating that true love is the offering of one’s life for the beloved.

3. It is Unconditional but Restorative

God’s love is not based on our merit. Even when Adam was "ungrateful and went astray," God’s compassion never failed. He shaped us in wisdom and refashions us in mercy. However, His love is "jealous" in a holy sense; He seeks our whole heart because He knows that only in Him will our souls find their true rest.

II. Why Does Our Love for God Fade?

If God’s love is perfect, why do we experience a "cooling" of our spiritual hearts?

1. The Deception of the "Modern Wilderness"

As seen in Jeremiah 2:2, the soul once followed God into the wilderness with total trust. Today, however, we often allow the "world" to occupy the space intended for God. When the heart becomes cluttered with material anxieties, digital distractions, and the pursuit of human recognition, the "eye of the heart" (as St. Augustine calls it) becomes clouded and cannot see the "changeless being" of God.

2. Spiritual Routine (Form without Power)

The warning to the Church of Ephesus (Revelation 2) was given to a church that was doctrinally sound but spiritually cold. We can become "experts" in the Church—knowing the hymns, the rites, and the history—while losing personal intimacy with the Bridegroom. When our service becomes a task rather than an offering, love begins to fade.

3. Unconfessed Sin and the "Serpent’s Wedge"

As the Fathers teach, sin acts as a separation. Just as the serpent separated the union of body and soul in wickedness, persistent sin creates a "veil" between us and God. It is not that God stops loving us, but that we lose our capacity to receive and feel that love.

III. How to Restore That Love

Restoring the "First Love" is a journey of repentance/change of mind.

1. Spiritual "Remembering"

To restore love, we must practice the "remembrance of God." This involves recalling the "kindness of your youth"—the moments when God’s hand was clearly visible in your life. This is why the Coptic Church emphasizes hagiography (the lives of the saints); by looking at their fire, our own embers are reignited.

2. Testing the Spirits

As Didymus the Blind taught regarding 1 John 4, we must "test the spirits." We must examine our thoughts and influences. If we are consuming "counterfeit" teachings or worldly philosophies (including the empty promises of secularism or the errors of Protestant individualism), our love for the true, Orthodox Christ will wane. Restoring love requires returning to the pure "milk" of the Church's apostolic teaching.

3. The Life of Grace and the Liturgy

We cannot "will" ourselves to love God by our own strength. We restore love by placing ourselves in the path of Grace:

• The Eucharist: Participating in the Body and Blood of the Lord is the most direct way to be "infused" with His love.
• The Agpeya: Using the prayers of the Church helps us when our own words fail. It aligns our hearts with the "wisdom" in which we were fashioned.
• Generosity and Integrity: Drawing from the "Golden Rule," practicing generosity (sharing what we have) softens the heart. When we act in love toward our brother, our love for God is naturally rekindled, for "he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20).

Conclusion:

God’s love is like a sun that never sets; it is we who turn away into the shadows. By remembering His early mercies, repenting of our distractions, and re-engaging in the "first works" of prayer and charity, we return to that "love of betrothal" that Jeremiah spoke of, finding our victory once again in the arms of the Good One.