Day 9

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

Throughout Scripture, God does not only reveal Himself propositionally; that is in facts and statements about Himself, but in people’s experience of Him. That is where the doctrine becomes life, and it is especially true of His love. We can experience God in a number of ways but the greatest is in the experience of His love.

Paul writes, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39. God’s love is everlasting, abounding and unfailing, but perhaps the most profound statement of all is found in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16, which says, “God is love.” It isn’t something He does, but something He is. It is not one of His functioning attributes, such as His omnipotence (all powerful) or his omniscience (all knowing) but His moral nature. His eternal being is always outward looking and outward giving. He IS love.

 For many people, that may seem a distant reality or merely a theory, but to personally know God is to experience His love, and that can only be done in relationship with Him. We need to know God, not in propositional statements, not as a tidy set of doctrines, not as a First Cause, but as the lover of our souls, and the One whose love is so real we inevitably reciprocate it and love him back. It is a love relationship with God that is the essential substance of our Christian lives.

Experiencing the love of God will inevitably flow out in love for others. That is why loving God and loving our neighbor are so entwined together. Our relationship with God will be expressed in the way we relate to people. Loving people is the inevitable fruit of our own knowledge of God. That is why John writes, ‘Whoever loves God must also love his brother’. 1 John 4:21. One is the inevitable expression of the other. Trying to love people will be a tough task if it is seen only as an obligation. It will be inevitable if our own love relationship with Jesus Christ is alive, deep and growing.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I humbly come to you, seeking the most precious relationship of my life to grow deeper and stronger. Thank you for the most priceless gift of all...your presence within me. I’d be lost without it.

To reflect upon: Am I fully aware that I carry the love of Christ within me and how do my words and actions reveal this to others?