We Love Because He First Loved Us 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. The most perplexing thing about God is not that He is omniscient, omnipresent or omnipotent. Since He is God, these virtues are somehow given or expected. Otherwise, He wouldn’t be known as God. The thing that is the hardest to comprehend is that though He is so powerful and almighty, He is also love! Through the tainted lenses of how we see our world, power and love don’t seem to jive. You cannot be powerful and loving at the same time. You must be either one. But our God is both. The extent of His love is fully expressed in the father’s unconditional love. Therefore, as children of God, we love because love comes from God. And we can love because He first loved us. Knowing this helps us understand that this love does not originate from us. It is not something birthed out of a desire within us, rather it is a new revelation of where this love comes from. Now that we know where this love comes from, we have a new responsibility. Because no one has seen God, loving people can become a way for people to see God, through us. So when we choose to love, others will see and experience God through us, knowing that God is living in us, and His love is made complete in us. Loving others is not an emotional decision. Rather, it is a spiritually convicted decision. It is now our duty of care as followers of Christ to show others this dimension of love. Remember, we love because He first loved us! Reflection: This love that we now have is one birthed out of the revelation of who God is. Armed with this truth, who do you want to love and how do you plan on doing that? 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. 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. 1 John 4:7‭-‬21 NIV