This post is part of a 40-Day Prayer Journey through the season of Lent. Click here to learn more and read other posts in the series.
“We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The verse quoted above from 1 John is often on my mind as a constant reminder.
What was John thinking about when he wrote these words to the early Christian church?
Could it have been Jesus’ words to his disciples on the night he was betrayed? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
Could it have been Jesus modeling what love for one another truly is with his words and actions? Washing his disciples’ feet . . . putting the crowds ahead of his own needs to provide for their physical and spiritual needs . . . stretching his hands out on the cross to bear the sins of the whole world so that all might know what love, true love, God’s love, really looks like?
Regardless of what was on John’s mind as he wrote those words, it’s clear that Jesus’ love for him influenced his own.
Dear Christian, the same is true for us as well.
Christ’s love for us puts everything we do in this world into perspective, doesn’t it? Christ’s love for us—his amazing, wonderful, selfless, servant-minded, grace-filled love that put our greatest needs first—influences the love that we show to the people in our lives.
Love, selfless love that looks to the needs of others before our own, is extremely difficult. Impossible even, if not for the love of Christ working in our hearts. Our Savior has given us everything. He’s saved us from our sins, washing us clean with his own precious blood, even though we have not earned or deserved it. We have a home in heaven waiting for us. We’re sons and daughters of the almighty God. All because of Jesus.
And now we get to reflect that same love to others—to the people who know Jesus and his love for them . . . and also to the people who don’t. Do we get it right all the time? Of course not. We’re sinful, and we fall short of reflecting Christ’s love toward others perfectly every day.
But as we look to our Savior, we find his forgiveness for our failures and his unending love for us, and that love motivates us to keep on loving others. It moves us to keep on trying to show Christ’s love to others with that same, selfless love that Christ first showed us, even though we did not earn or deserve it.
We keep our focus on our Savior and what he has done for us, and that influences how we act toward others.
Today as you pray, ask that God would strengthen and move the hearts of his people to strive to love others as they have been loved and to use their words and actions in such a way that they point others to God’s great love.
Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe for free devotional content every week!
Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
Leave a Reply