He loved us first
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”1 John 4:10
Reflection
John defines here what true love is, and the definition inverts everything we usually think. We tend to define love from OUR side: "love is me loving God, me seeking God, me striving to please God". But John corrects: "herein is love: NOT that we loved God, BUT that HE loved us". True love did not begin with us; it began with God. Before any move of ours toward Him, God had already moved toward us. The initiative was always His.
This is one of the most liberating truths of the Christian faith, because it takes from us the weight of having to generate the love. Many religions and philosophies place the human being chasing after God, trying to reach Him, deserve Him, win Him over. Christianity announces the opposite: God ran after us first. We love because we were loved; we seek because we were sought; we draw near because He drew near. All our love for God is, in fact, a RESPONSE to a love that already existed before, and not the origin of the relationship. As John says a few verses later: "we love him, because he first loved us" (v. 19).
And notice HOW John defines the proof of that love: not in words, but in action — "he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins". God’s love is not merely a declared feeling; it is a concrete sacrifice. "Propitiation" means that Jesus took upon Himself the punishment our sins deserved, satisfying God’s justice and reconciling us with Him. God’s love went so far that it cost the life of His own Son. When you want to measure the size of God’s love for you, do not look at your feelings nor at the circumstances — look at the cross. There is the definition and the proof of love.
Think of what this means for your identity and your security. If God’s love for you depended on your love for Him, it would be unstable, fluctuating with your spiritual performance. But since God’s love came FIRST, before anything you did, it does not depend on you. On the days you feel you love God little, that your faith is weak, that you failed — His love for you remains the same, because it was never based on your love, but on His. Rest today in this truth that turns the logic upside down: you do not have to generate God’s love by loving Him enough; you only have to RECEIVE the love He already poured out first, and let it produce in you the love of response. He loved you first. He loves you now. And that love does not depend on you.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that love did not begin with me, but with You — You loved me first, before any move of mine toward You, and proved that love by sending Your Son for me. Forgive me when I try to generate Your love by striving to love You enough. Help me simply to receive the love You already poured out first, and to let it produce in me the love of response. Amen.
Put it into practice
When you feel you are "loving God little" or unworthy of His love, invert the logic: instead of trying to generate more love, RECEIVE the love He already poured out first. Look at the cross as the proof of that love, and let it produce in you the response — instead of trying to deserve it.
To reflect on
Have you been trying to GENERATE God’s love, striving to love Him enough — or received the love He already poured out first, before anything of yours?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).