Scripture Verse that Caught My Attention Today: 1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Observation: It’s crucial to remember who loved who first.
Application: One key part of my understanding of God is that God always makes the first move in terms of love and reconciliation and healing. And so the fact that I am loved by God is not because I’m so loveable by my own efforts, but because God simply loves me, period. My own efforts have nothing to do with it. They are simply a form of response, preferably out of a profound sense of thankgiving, but, realistically, often simply because such efforts either make me feel good or provide some other self-serving purpose.
That’s why it’s so crucial to understand God as the original source love. Human love is fleeting. It’s here one day and gone the next. It’s dependability is a nothing but a gamble. It’s built on the chance of a chance, the odds of the odds, a bet on a bet. It’s like a fifth cousin of God twice removed, whatever that means.
Better by far is to simply rely on the one who was and is and is to come. The one who loved us first and loves us still.
Prayer: Lord, let us always simply be thankful for your willingness to consistently love the unloveable, and to respond in kind. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Scripture Readings Today included Jeremiah 31-32 and 1 John 4)
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