Inspired by 1 John
4:7-21
“In this is love, not
that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning
sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since
God love us so much, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11
Love is risky. Love
is difficult. Love is painful. Yet love has the potential to be the most
powerful, transformative, and rewarding force on the planet.
Because of the risks involved, we often try to limit our
love to those who are most ‘deserving’ of it, or who are at the lowest risk of
causing us pain. But that is not how God
wants us to love, and it’s not how he’s modeled love for us.
We were sinners against God, deserving of death. Yet the first action of our salvation was
God’s love for us. He saw our sin, and
he loved us enough to send his Son. We rejected
and murdered his Son, and he loved us enough to raise his Son in such a way as
to conquer death for all of us. We
demonstrated with our actions that we did not love God, and that we were at
very high risk of causing him pain, but God loved us anyway, and that love is
powerful enough to transform us into beings worthy of his love. All because he loved us first.
Don’t limit your love; by doing so you limit love’s
transformative powers. People who are
loved find it easier to be lovable; they in turn are able to love others, who
then find it easier to be lovable, and the world can turn around from its
selfish, sinful ways. Let the
unconditional love of God transform your life to one in which you will dare to
love others, even if they seem undeserving of your love. After all, if God had waited to love us until
we were deserving of it, we’d still be waiting now.
Let us pray. God of
love, you loved us first, even though we were guilty of sin and undeserving of
your love. Let your grace transform our
lives, that we may be your agents of loving and positive change in the
world. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment