I John 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
We “perceive” “the love of God”; that is, we know that God loves us because He demonstrated it when “he laid down his life for us”. We hear of a lot of things that we simply do not believe to be true. I summarily discount much of what the news agencies report to us and what pops up on the internet. But, we believe that “God” loves us because He has given us Spiritual Birth (John 3:1-8); and in giving us Spiritual Birth, He gave us “faith” (Hebrews 11:1; 12:2). Then, this blessed “faith” gives us the necessary “substance” and “evidence” to “perceive … the love of God”; that is, to know with absolute certainty that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and truly God, and that because of His “great love” (Ephesians 2:4) “he laid down his life for us” to Redeem us from our Sins and Save us to Eternal Heaven! As our Lord so plainly declared, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)! Paul expresses his perception (knowledge) of God this way: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (II Timothy 1:12). Knowing the surety of His “love”, we can endure the storms and troubles of this present life with peace in our souls, knowing that nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39)!