Thankfully, I’ve learned God doesn’t love me because I am cleaned up, religious or even because I am a Christian. He loves me because He is love. We didn’t earn His love and we can’t lose His love either.
— Jennifer Rothschild, Proverbs 31 Ministries.
This was part of my devotion this morning. The sentence that says He loves me because He is love, stopped me in my tracks. Are we loving like this?? Do we love because we are made in His image?…or do we love because someone loves us, or is good to us or has been deemed worthy of our love and affection? Do we withhold love because we choose to be offended? Do we withhold love because of our own wounds and fears? Do we withhold love because someone’s choices or circumstances are different than ours or make us uncomfortable–because we cannot seem to put our stamp of approval on them or their life?
The latter questions are not the love of Jesus…in fact, does Jesus approve of our lives and choices BEFORE He loves us? Does he require we love Him before He loves us? Does he mandate anything?? Anything before He loves us?? The Bible says in Romans 5:8 “while we were still sinners” He gave His life for us. Sinners implies we were/are not living a life approved by Him. We didn’t earn it…and we can’t lose it (with regard to His love) . If we didn’t earn it, no one else should have to earn our love.
Maybe once we grasp the idea that nothing we do or don’t do warrants His love for us…we can more easily reflect the love of Christ…We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19. He loves us because of who He is…it has nothing to do with who we are. We should love others because the love of Christ is in us, because of who we are…not because of who they are or are not. He gave us His perfect example to follow, He showed us what true love is, He showed us how He wants us to love.
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Marla Geiger 