A God of Holy Love
The contention that God is love is clearly revealed in Scripture (I John 4:8) and in the person of Jesus Christ. But this love must be clearly understood because of 2 reasons.
1--Clarity is needed about any understanding about love due to many of us having our own ideas of what love "looks like." Culturally love seems to have no boundaries or distinction in other than being nice and permissive of what people want or do.
2--This need of clarity is compounded by the fact that there are at least 3 terms in the Greek New Testament used for the word love, and all have some differences of meaning. So, understanding love requires some thoughtful reflection on the meaning and nuances of this Biblical term.
Wesley understood the different terms used for love and his understanding of God's love is informed by this. In general Wesley seems to understand that God's love is Holy love. What is meant by this is that God's love (agape) is love that wills the good for the one loved. And this willing may take the form of what is thought to be unloving. The thought that God's love could thought of as unloving is based in an understanding that Holy Love makes distinctions..
What distinctions does Holy Love make? It makes distinctions in sanctioning what is good for the one loved and it rejects what is not good for the one loved. This kind of love may be foreign to many because of a view of love as simply letting me do what I desire even if it is destructive to God's design for one's life.
REFLECT: Does your view of love have the feature of being able to make distinctions? These distinctions are generally in approving what is good and rejecting what is wrong.