This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. —1 John 4:10.
God loved us first! He paid the huge price to atone for our sins in Jesus before calling us to follow Jesus to love others. Jesus was the way God displayed his mercy and justice before he asked us to love. We know what love is because God demonstrated it before demanding it from us. How we demonstrate God’s mercy, justice, grace, and love to others shows how much we understand God’s love for us!