Because He First Loved Us

December 2

Hosea 12-14

Psalm 135:15-21

Proverbs 28:22-23

I John 4

Because He First Loved Us

“We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

I John 4:19-21 NIV

Today’s reading gives us the “how” to the reading from yesterday. How do we love others unconditionally and sacrificially? How do we love in action and in truth? When it comes down to it, I am a selfish person. If I examine my motives and my actions, most of the time I don’t like what I see. If I am brutally honest with myself, I have to acknowledge that I fall very short of loving like Jesus loved. On my own, I act and think in ways that benefit me. Most of my time and energy is spent on things that make me happy or that will prosper me in some way. The idea of “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others” Philippians 2:4 (NIV) sounds very holy, but it is very hard. It does not come naturally. We each have an innate drive to look out for ourselves, to protect ourselves. And yet we are told to love like Jesus loved, to seek the benefit of others above seeking what is best for us. I think this verse helps us figure out where to start.

If I love people the way they deserve to be loved, I can usually justify not loving them well. And if people love me the way I deserve to be loved, I must admit that most of the time I would deserve what I get. But that is not what God wants from us. You can’t find anywhere in the Bible where we are told that we should love people who love us and treat us well, but we don’t have to love people who treat us badly. In fact, we are told to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. If our yardstick for how much we love others is based on how they measure up and deserve our love, everyone will fall short. And we will fall short when others are measuring us. So that can’t be our standard. We love because we have been loved. The love we demonstrate to others is an overflow of the love that Jesus has shown to us. God loves us perfectly and completely. When we were still sinners, He died for us. (Romans 5:8, John 15:13) His love is unconditional, and nothing can separate us from His love. (Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 54:10) The only way that we can love others and look to their interests above our own is to recognize that we do not deserve to be loved and yet we are loved fully and completely by our Heavenly Father. John is explaining that gratitude to God overflows in love to others. If we do not have love for others, then we really don’t fully appreciate what God did for us. The measure of our love for Him is exhibited by how we love others. Ouch! I’m just going to leave that one there for each of us to examine our own hearts.