First Love
1 John 4:7-12 7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us
Happy Valentine’s Day P.R.E.T.T.Y Ladies! It is the most wonderful day to celebrate all things love. And if we are talking about love then you know we can only be talking about the one and only Mr. Love himself. Let’s not muddle how clear the scripture is in this passage (and I implore you to read through to verse 21), God is love! This day is meant for us to give love to those special people in our lives but make no mistake, we are only able to do so only because He first loved us. I get all giddy just thinking about how much my heavenly father loves me and how I can love on others because of Him.
So, girl, let me tell you how this awesome King shows His love to me. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. Yeah, y’all heard me right! He loved me to such a degree that He sacrificed His one and only begotten son so that little ol’ me might live. Picture it, the father and son communing with one another, knowing the travesty that was going to be placed upon Jesus, all so I can be able to share in the same love and the same kingdom as His only begotten. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know if I could even give up my dog Moosey for someone I half-like like that.
The love I experience from God is like no other. Simply put, it is without condition. His love is the highest form of love, and because my love is so flawed it often makes it hard to receive His love fully. I don’t feel worthy. I do Him wrong and He still loves me, and I am so thankful because I never want to lose Him. I mean, He saved me! Once I decided to receive His love, He became an open book that I try to read daily so I can know Him, love Him, and love others better.
This brings me to the second point of our little love lesson. God’s love, as we can clearly see, is the most selfless love one can experience. His love for me is pure and perfect and without blemish. His love for me has no bounds. In his love is the safest, most secure place I can ever find myself. What a peaceful place I know that to be. And the word calls us to love others in that very same way. Y’all are probably thinking, “Do we gotta do all the dying and stuff?” And my answer to you is “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Okay, we might not die in the literal sense, but it points to how fiercely we must love one another.
It is not a one off either, ladies. It is a call to continuous action. We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. And we are to love others as we love ourselves. Day in and day out. On this Valentine’s Day and every day thereafter.
Happy Valentine’s Day My Lord!
