Jump Start # 847

1 John 4:19 “We love, because He first loved us.”

God loves us. That thought is the key to the foundation of the Bible story. God loves us. His love is a choice. His love is not based upon us. If it were, we’d be sunk. We forget that sometimes. We think that we are so cute, adorable and irresistible. We’re not. We think we’re big shots. We’re not. We think we are clever. Wrong. We think we are impressive. We’re not. We don’t like to think what we really are. We are broken. We are lost. We are sinful. We are a mess. Most broken things are thrown away. Not us. God loves us even though we are broken.

God loves us and we love God. Our love is not parallel to God’s love. That’s what is so fascinating about our passage today. We love, because He first loved us.

• He had no reason to love us, but He did. We have every reason to love God.
• He loved us, even though we could not do anything for Him. We love God because He has done so much for us.
• He loved us at our worst. We love God at His best. He is always best.
• He loved us when we didn’t love Him. We love God, as our passage states, because He first loved us.
• He has never stopped loving us. There are periods in our life when we have not love God.
• He can do nothing to love us more. We can all certainly love God more.
• He loves us constantly and always. Our love for God can run hot and cold based upon our moods. The church at Ephesus left their first love. The church at Laodicea was lukewarm. God is not like that. We are.
• He loves based upon a choice. Our love, too often, is emotional and feeling or circumstantial based.

God loves us. We love God. The love is not the same. I’m glad God doesn’t love like we do. I wish we could love like He does. The parables of Jesus allows us to visualize this amazing love of God. The compassionate master who was owed 10,000 talents by a servant, forgave him, and released him from his obligation. He loved the servant. The prodigal’s father should have scolded his irresponsible, wasteful, and thoughtless son. Instead, he felt compassion, forgave and embraced him. Those are more than cool stories. Those are windows into the heart of God. We see God in those parables. We see that God loves.

God loves us. That is the first step in getting someone to come home spiritually. We often do not feel loved, wanted or needed. We know we’ve wrecked things. The trail of destruction behind us is pretty obvious. Broken vows, broken marriages, bad habits, bad attitudes, twisted souls and living in the darkness of sin. Guilt, shame, frustration and worry fill our hearts. We know. We’ve been wrong. Yet, and still yet, God loves us. He hasn’t tossed us out with other broken things. He hasn’t given up. He doesn’t cut us from the team. He is patient. He is loving. He has a better way, a better hope and a better use for us. God loves us. We don’t give up because He hasn’t given up. When a jailer in Philippi drew a sword and was ready to take his life, Paul told him of Jesus. He dropped the sword. He listened. He believed. He was baptized. Why? What made his mind go from giving up to accepting God? Suicide to discipleship? It was God’s love. God’s love is Jesus. The dying Savior is God’s love. The resurrection is God’s love. Forgiveness is God’s love.

God has not given up. He has not counted you down and out. Things may be a mess, but God can turn them around. God’s love motivates us. It leads us to change. It challenges us to better and nobler things. It opens the door to belief, repentance, baptism and discipleship. God loves you, yes, even you!

He wants you to love Him. He wants you to want Him. He wants you to follow Him, not just now and then, but wholly, completely and always. God loves. He always has. He always will. It’s great being loved.

God loves you. That’s the best thought of the day.

Roger