Because He First Loved Us

I want to discuss a scripture that is near and dear to my heart. I remember when I first heard this verse, I thought to myself, "That’s not true." In my finite mind, I questioned God's word.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

I used to hear this verse and think, "That doesn’t make sense … I love God because I love him, as if I, a flawed human being with a finite mind who lacks consistency in everything I do, could voluntarily love the Lord. 

Consider Jesus' words in Matthew 22:37, which reads: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Think about it: do we really love the Lord with the full expression of who we are? 

Practically speaking, it means to love him with all of our hearts. “Cardia” means passionately loving the Lord with our actions and how we live everyday life.  To love with our soul, “Psyche” means the breath of life, the part of us that connects us to God as our creator, and we should love and commune to as our creator. Love the Lord with our mind, “Dianoia,” means to love him with our intellect, understanding, and feelings and honor him with our beliefs and everything he says he is. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I struggle to love God in some of those areas; my mind wonders, my heart gets troubled, and my soul gets downcast and dismayed.  I’m incapable of loving him as I should. Only perfect love can enable me to love like that. 

Only love so pure, perfect, and selfless can intentionally seek me, chase me down until I'm found, and patiently train my heart to love him as I should. What kind of love is this? The love of God manifested through his son Jesus, Emmanuel God with us. “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23

Merry Christmas to all!