“We love him, because he first loved us.” -1 John 4:19
God is love. Jesus is the risen Christ, and he loves you. The whole of existence is rooted and grounded in love. Love has been mocked, distorted, and pirated for society’s own gain yet it remains a truth so profound, so simple, and so pure, because God is love. It is the gift of divinity to a fallen man, and the passion of His Son towards an unworthy people. When we understand that God is love and Jesus is Christ, it changes everything.
God is love, he is the owner of it, the creator, and there is no God without love and no love without God. When we see attributes and characteristics of things in this world that are labeled as love, that do not line up with what God is; then we can readily conclude that it is not love. That is not judging, it is judgment. We either believe the Bible or we do not. We live by the Bible or we do not. God has/had the rights to love long before man, and he created us in His likeness and image so that he could have fellowship with man. So that we, as mortal flesh, could experience this precious gift of love, and understand the immortal blessing of loving God and being loved by God. Jesus is the Christ. Christ, the Son of God, was/is Jesus of Nazareth. He came into this world, to become the saving instrument to redeem a willing heart back to full fellowship with a holy God. In Christ we find the love of God (and therefore love itself), identified and manifested. Humanity is/was lost without Jesus. We are wretched, hateful, lovers of pleasures, lovers of self, unholy, boasters; sinners. We needed a Savior, a champion of love who could pull us out of hate and give us the love to which we were so blinded to. Jesus Christ did this for us, he brought and bought love for mankind with His own blood. His own life sacrificed on cross; the instrument of death, forever changed as a symbol of life. This is God’s love, Jesus’s love; the righteous for the unrighteous, the holy for the unholy; not a trade, or a bargain, but sacrificial, merciful, gracious, unwavering, passionate love. We love him, because he first loved us. It is only because of God and Jesus that we have the ability and capability to love God and love one another. There is/was no way we can or could love God, unless he first loved us. The relationship that He desired to have with us in the Garden was ruined by man’s disobedience. The sin that we are born with manifests itself and we cannot have fellowship. The love of God: real, true, genuine, perfect love; is the greatest thing a human can possess on this earth. It reigns within, and is to us a precious treasure. It is that love that transforms the very core of a person. Guiding them in the way of holiness, and empowering them to live in love. The love of God is gifted to us, packaged in the Holy Spirit and willing bestowed to a heart that has been cleansed through the act of repentance.
As the engaged bride turns from the single life toward a union with her bridegroom, so we turn from the sinful world to meet the Savior in union. We are then married to Jesus to live a life of perfect love with Him as our faithful husband. This is not something that we could ever obtain unless He first loved us. It is not something we could ever experience unless Jesus first died for us. God is love, and the love of God can be in us; we love him, because he first loved us.
