It’s Not that We Loved Him…

“This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins” (1 John 4:10, GW).

Oftentimes we get so focused on our ability (or inability) to serve God adequately that we forget the main point. Today’s verse brings us back to it. Holy Spirit is redirecting our focus. It’s not about what we have done for God, nor what we will ever be able to do for Him. It’s about what He has done, and will continue to do, for us.

This is not a selfish perspective. It’s the Biblical perspective. “This is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us…” Everything else flows out of this. We love because, and only because, He first loved us. He took the initiative, and we responded. He pursued us, and we surrendered to His wooing. He paid the entire price, and we fell on our faces in stunned, grateful adoration.

God doesn’t expect us to just come up with love for Him, and for others. Every day of our lives, if we allow Him to, He will pour His love into our hearts (Rom. 5:5). We are simply channels that His overwhelmingly beautiful love swirls through, over, and out of… into the lives of thirsty souls around us.

Today, just like every day of human history, Holy Spirit will take the initiative with us. Before we open our eyes in the morning, He is waiting by our bedside. He is smiling, full of anticipation, longing to spend the day with us. Yearning to pour Himself into and through us. As we wake up, He holds out His hands to us. He is ready to lead.

It’s not about what you and I will do for Him today. It’s about what He is already up to. It’s about the breathtaking plans He penned into His book for these next twenty-four hours… before the worlds began. What are You doing today, Daddy God? How are You inviting me to join You? In the hours ahead, in what ways to You want to flow through me to this hurting world?

It’s not that we will love Him today. It’s that He will overwhelmingly love us. And His love is so sublime, so powerful, that it will transform our hearts into instruments that conduct the electricity of His redemption. Inspired and filled and empowered by His consuming fire of love, we will begin to resemble Him as genuine, selfless lovers of humanity.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… If we love one another, God abides in us…” (1 John 4:11-12, NKJV).

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Does it take some of the pressure off, to understand that Daddy God doesn’t expect us to come up with love for others on our own?