SACRIFICIAL LOVE
The perfect expression of Godly love is revealed in Jesus’ words in John 15:12-14:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.

INTERPRETATION: This is Jesus talking. Christians who say they love Jesus and follow him boast wrongly that they are friends/brothers of Jesus. They are wrong because they boast about their relationship with Jesus and because they do not practice sacrificial love.

Forgiveness is a key element of love. Jesus modeled forgiveness in his relationships with Pharisees, Scribes and Roman authorities. He was not required to submit to their authority but he did submit because he sacrificed his right to ask God to send angels to defend him. He could not have made that sacrifice if he had not already forgiven his abusers.

See this link for a thorough discussion of sacrificial love.