1 John 4:19

We love because he first loved us.

I love this passage of scripture partly because of the word that is NOT there.  Notice that it doesn’t say we love HIM because He first loved us—It says that we LOVE because He first loved us.  Our very capacity to love, the reason that we have any idea what love truly is, comes from the fact that God is love and that He loved us.  It is through experiencing the blessing of His love that we have a concept of what love really is.  Had He not loved us first, we would not know this.

When you stop and think about it, all the things that truly matter in this life—the things that go beyond “things” are the relationships that are based on love.  Our love of family, our love of friends and associates—all these things come because God has revealed to us what love is by allowing us to experience it as He loved us.  How truly blessed we are!