We love Him, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)As if God asked, "Why do you love Me?" and we answered, "Because You first loved us." Except ...
Most modern translations don't translate it that way. Vincent Word Studies says, "The best texts omit 'Him.'" The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says, "him — omitted in the oldest manuscripts." Most translations say, "We love because He first loved us." That's kind of abrupt, isn't it? We love at all because He loved first. "Wait ... can't we love on our own?" Apparently not. And it makes sense when we look back at an earlier verse where we read the famous, "God is love" (1 John 4:7). God is love. He defines love. So ... if God defines love ... God is love ... then obviously we couldn't love if He didn't first love us.
We've messed with love a lot. We've diminished it to a feeling ... generally with sex involved. We've used it as a weapon ("If you loved me, you'd ...") and made it a plaything. God's version ... the only real version ... is to sacrifice self for the best for others. Like Jesus did (Php 2:5-8). Like we're supposed to (John 13:34; John 15:12). Scripture says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17) Love would qualify as a "good gift." Just remember ... it's not there because you generate it. Why do I love you? Because He first loved me.
"We love [at all] because He first loved us." What an uplifting truth. From the beginning of our earthly existence, our ability to love others--our parents, our spouses, our children & grandchildren, our neighbors, and even our enemies--is due to our being made in the image of an all-loving Being. The inclination to give of ourselves for the benefit and welfare of others does not originate with us but must be enabled by the Creator Himself. Man has distorted this aspect of God’s nature found within himself to be self-serving at best and perverse at worst, but those who love unselfishly and sacrificially are truly mirroring the God who is love. Believers who have been granted the Holy Spirit and who will cultivate His fruits will display love first and foremost in everything they do and say--just like God Himself. Love is not merely a reciprocal response to God’s love towards us but is inspired and enabled by the Giver of the gift. We all benefit from the gift of love--even those who don’t acknowledge its origin. When I try to imagine this world--or my life--without love, I realize that God has bestowed the greatest gift on humankind--as is His nature to do.
ReplyDelete“We love at all because He loved first”--a simple statement holding a profound truth. It’s no wonder we extol the love of God so much!
It also makes sense that we can't love aside from God because it was God's love that led to His creating in the first place. If He didn't love us, we simply wouldn't exist.
ReplyDeleteJesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." I suppose that would include "love".
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