Love, part 2

I think that it's time I share two more of my favorite scriptures. The first is 1 John 4:8 "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." Ponder on that. If you do not love, or do not know or recognize love you really can't know God. In fact, it's hard to comprehend the love of God, the greatest sign of his love being manifest in sending the Son (John 3:17), if you do not manifest love for Him and for others. For more on that point, see i write to understand myself: Love.
Another great scripture, another written by John the Beloved, is John 17:3 "For this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Life eternal comes from knowing God and Jesus. To know them we must walk more than a mile in their shoes; we must come to and strive to live the life that they live. We find life eternal in repenting of our individual sins and striving to keep the commandments and covenants.
My focus with these two scriptures leads me away from discussing man's potential to become like God. I want to couple the two together. First, let's begin with the last (hmmm I feel a chiasmus coming on...): life eternal is knowing God. Join that with "he that loveth not knoweth not God. It would seem to follow then that in order to find life eternal we must learn to love. It all comes back to love. The whole plan of salvation, the atonement, EVERYTHING about the gospel of Jesus Christ centers on love for God and our fellow man, Christ being the very center of our love being the ultimate symbol of and corporeal embodiment of the love of the Father.
I've begun to understand even deeper what love is lately. A new love on a new and deeper level is developing. I feel as though I'm beginning to understand a little better what love is and what it's like. Of course that love will deepen as it consistently has throughout my life. I learned to love my siblings and parents. Then my school. That moved on to loving my friends. It continued into loving the people I was serving and teaching as a missionary. Now that love is deepening even further into a beautiful romance. It will move into loving my children and then further on when more posterity is born.