Is there a difference between "God loves us" and "God is love?"
Acknowledging that God loves us can be comforting, strengthening, but if it leaves the door open to perhaps He does not love someone else, then it is personal. It is more difficult to conceive this kind of love covering each and every one. Nonetheless, there is a place where the idea of God loving me meets the need of the moment.
In the second case, love is a synonym for God. So if God is omnipotent then Love is omnipotent, if God is infinite, then Love is infinite, and so on. What a huge concept, encompassing everything. There is no escape from Love, and no room for anything but Love. We stand in awe of this one, drinking it in, recognizing that we are only getting a glimpse of its full power and presence. It is this Love that we strive to embody in our daily walk, and in destroying hatred in the world through our watching and working.
Applying Principle as a synonym for Love, God, is immensely helpful - keeps us out of a mushy sense of love which is not love at all! This application of Principle was the inspiration that came through Mary Baker Eddy.
Listen to this short but powerful statement from Mrs. Eddy, of what is and is not love, in practice.