Why do we love people?
Is it because they’ve given us something? We love the president because we received a stimulus check when we were quarantined during the 2020 COVID pandemic.
That’s not love. It’s gratitude.
Maybe we love someone because we can’t imagine them not being part of our lives. That might include grandparents, schoolteachers, and the kindly couple behind the register at the corner grocery.
Nah, there’s got to be something more than just being there for it to be love.
Patterns, patterns. Is love a plaid, the colors of our love interwoven into the lives of people around us? Or is love an infusion, the substance of the people we care about so deeply embedded into us that we are inseparable?
Can finances bind us into love? Shared relationships, family members, even children?
Does attending the same college or church trigger love?
Here’s what God’s Word says in the English Standard Version of 1 John 4:19:
“We love because he first loved us.”
How simple is that? It’s like cloth woven with every color on earth.
The trusted King James Version says it like this:
“We love him, because he first loved us.”
We don’t just love, but we love him. His love directs our love back toward heaven.
Now compare the New Living Translation. It reflects a slightly different interpretation of the original Greek text.
“We love each other because he loved us first.”
Here’s the takeaway from this: God’s pattern of love flows from him to us to everyone around us. We love those around us because God first loved us.
Simple as supper and twice as good.
Let’s weave everyone into our love cloth. Then our actions will reflect the brilliance of God’s love all around us.
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Code: FGO.F.02.20c.vp.esv