"He First Loved Us"

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 ESV)

An amazing statement John has put forth in his first epistle. While we were enemies of God, God loved us. Our idea of love is an emotion we humans may not fully comprehend. The word love itself is a mishmash word. It is a feeling we may have as humans that can be experienced at different levels and means different things to different people. That is why I called it a mishmash or hodge-podge, because it is completely ambiguous in meaning.  This love John speaks of is agapē (ἀγάπη) love, the love of God.

Agapē, or love, is not a feeling; it is a way of treating people, clearly defined by Jesus. Agapē love is a love in which one seeks what is best for each individual, regardless of that individual's response to our efforts. Is that not what God does for the lost? Is that not what He did for the believer?

If you know Christ as your Savior, there was a time you did not. Yet because of the Agapē love of God, He sought you out. You, His enemy, who resists His calling and intervention in your life, He sought you out so that you could receive what was best for you, salvation, and reconciliation to God. You did not seek God; He sought you.

In John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” As I loved you (with my Agapē love) love others the same way. A slight transliteration on my part, but I hope you see the meaning. Jesus loved, not with the love of a husband to wife, wife to husband, or parent to child, but as a merciful, forgiving God who sacrificed Himself so that you might receive what He deemed was best for you. With Him as your creator, He has the right to deem what is best for you.

In terms of human love, one may have fears. Fears of rejection, fears of being hurt, fears of losing what one loves through no fault of our own. Yet, John also reminds us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. (1 John 4:18) God has no fear, and in Agapē love there is no fear because there is no self-preservation, no personal emotion. Agapē love is about doing. It is about doing what is best for others, regardless of their response.

It is for this reason John reminds us, “since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.”(1 John 4:11-12) It is the echoing of Christ in John 13:34. God does not love because we are worthy; to the contrary, God loves because we are not worthy. We need the Agapē love of God. A love that reveals what is best for us, who our Savior is, and He, Christ Jesus, reconciled us to God, by His blood. We are saved through scripture alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, all for the glory of God alone.

Is the Agapē love of God trying to reach you? Is God reminding what He has done and is doing in your life? Have you finally realized that you cannot navigate this world on your own? God is seeking you, not because you are worthy, but because you are not, and He has what is best for you, Himself. Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32) Christ is knocking on your door; open it, and He will come in and dine with you.

(Revelation 3:20)

Seek the Agapē love of Christ and be reconciled to God in your salvation.

Grace and Peace.