If God is, inherently and essentially, Love - the eternal community of self-giving love that is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and the essential, defining nature of humanity is that we have been created and called as image-bearers of this God, then it would seem to follow that the ability and longing to give and receive love is perhaps the most fundamental, defining element of what it means to be genuinely human. Which is perhaps what so emboldened the Apostle Paul to declare:
Altogether, as a disciple of Christ in pursuit of Christ-likeness, it is possible that we might achieve a life of MIRACLES: of prophetic, powerful words and world-shaping faith; a life of radical self-emptying generosity and Kingdom witness. (Could it be imagined that any of US might live to know such heights!) But, if these be LOVELESS pursuits, in the end they cannot but become forces and vehicles of our own condemnation.
Suddenly, it is brought into sharp relief: for the follower of Jesus it is Love, or nothing!