1 John 4:10
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
I once heard about a couple who made an appointment with a marriage counselor. The wife started out by saying that she didn’t think her husband loved her. He just never said he loved her. When the counselor asked the husband if this were true, he readily agreed. He said, “I told forty years ago I loved her and I have not withdrawn that statement—it’s still in effect!” (I think the counselor wanted to bang his head on the desk!)
Here is my candid observation—love is an emotion and begs for some type of positive response. We are prone to love only as long as the person loves us in return. Take that response away and we quickly lose the desire to continue loving.
According to God’s precious Word we are to love with a love that is like the love Jesus has for us. That means we are to love even when the other person is not loveable.
When you stop to think about it, that is the way God loves us—when we are the most unlovable. It is while we were unlovable sinners that Christ loved us, and it is the unlovable people around us who need us to love them—with Christ’s transforming love.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil