We
Love Because He First Loved Us
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from
God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love
does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among
us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one
another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is how we know that we live in
him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify
that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone
acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love
lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so
that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like
Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear
has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us.
1
John 4:7-19
My three-year old niece, Jenna, has
an expression that never fails to melt my heart. When she loves something (really
loves it), be it banana cream pie, jumping on the trampoline, or playing
Frisbee, she’ll proclaim, “I love it—whole world!” (“whole world” accompanied
with a dramatic sweep of her arms).
Sometimes I wonder, When’s the
last time I’ve dared to love like that? With nothing held back, completely
unafraid?
“God is love,” John wrote repeatedly
(1 John 4:8, 16), perhaps because the truth that God’s love—not our anger,
fear, or shame—is the deepest foundation of reality, is hard for us grown-ups
to “get.” The world divides us into camps based on what we’re most afraid
of—and all too often we join in, ignoring or villainizing the voices that
challenge our preferred vision of reality.
Yet amid the deception and power
struggles (vv. 5–6), the truth of God’s love remains, a light that shines in
the darkness, inviting us to learn the path of humility, trust, and love
(1:7–9; 3:18). For no matter what painful truths the light uncovers, we can
know that we’ll still be loved (4:10, 18; Romans 8:1).
When Jenna leans over and whispers
to me, “I love you—whole world!” I whisper back, “I love you
whole world!” And I’m grateful for a gentle reminder that every moment I’m held
in limitless love and grace.
When do you find
yourself feeling pressured to believe fear is greater than love? How might your
relationships with others change if you believed you don’t need to be
afraid?
Loving God, thank You for Your love. Help us to trust in and
follow Your light and love even when the way gets dark.
Our Daily Bread – November 7, 2019