Meditation for Monday
We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Of all the people in your life, who do you love the most? For most of us, that person is our spouse. If you were asked why you love that person, you could come up with several – or many – reasons. You would certainly have a longer list of reasons than some of the women at the Rogers Centre who proclaimed their love of then Toronto Blue Jays centre fielder Kevin Pillar because he made spectacular catches. We list such reasons as physical attractiveness, sweetness of personality, diligence, faithfulness, devotion, and dozens of others. When we come to our love for God, we might well have many reasons, but they all would be pretty small compared to that greatest of all reason: He first loved us! But take note, we cannot turn this text around and say that there is a reason, or there are reasons, why God loves us. There is no ‘because’ to God’s love.
Such verses as John 3:16 tell us what God did because of His love for us, but they do not tell us why God loves us. When we look at ourselves, we can see no reason why God would love us. We are like a dirty, ragged street person who throws a ball of mud at a movie star. That movie star would have no reason to have anything to do with that street person. But despite all of our rebellion, anger against God, and rejection of His grace for so many years, you and I always were and always will be objects of God’s love. Not only has He eternally loved us, but throughout the history of mankind, He has sought to display that love to us and to reconcile us to Himself. The difference between God’s love for us and our love for Him is so glaring that we cannot even compare it. Today’s text is not an attempt to compare, but it is a declaration of how great the love of God is, to create such a transformation in us.
Anyone who claims to love God must be transformed. The Lord Jesus declared, ‘If ye love me, keep My commandments’ (John 14:15). Our love for our Lord will cause us to be obedient to His Word. A disobedient Christian does not display the love of God. Our love for our Lord will also cause us to love one another. The Christians in the early days and years of the book of Acts were marked by their love for one another, a love that was dramatically different from that displayed by those in the world around them. This should be the same today. Our love for our Lord will also guide us to display that love to the lost souls that we encounter, in showing them kindness and in sharing the Gospel with them.
The love of God cannot be measured. But our love for Him can be measured in how we respond to His love. – Jim MacIntosh