9 This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. 10 This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.
Reflection
In the English language we only have one word for “love.” Love is a word we use today to describe a preference. We love ice cream, coffee, or money. We love our pets, our parents, our children, our partners. We love God. We use love but our meaning is measured by degrees and the depth of love grows deeper depending on the kind of the relationship we’re discussing. So maybe that’s why when we read scripture that tells us that God loves us, we really can’t take in the full meaning of God’s love for us, because it’s a priceless gift of transforming love beyond our human comprehension.
God loved us first. Before the universe was formed, God loved us. We were created in the image of God. We are so precious to God our names are engraved on the palms of God’s hands (Isaiah 46:16), and God knows the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:17). The nature and character of God is holiness, righteousness, and justice but all of these precede from God’s radical love, and all love comes from God. God’s love for us is unconditional, eternal, unfailing, forgiving, merciful, kind, gentle, faithful, and perfect. God’s love never gives up on us, and is always working for our good.
God loves us so much that God made the ultimate sacrifice of God’s only son Jesus, to save us. God’s love set us free from the bondage of sin to live a new life of love in Christ. As the beloved children of God, we are set free to be the love of God in the world to others. Love is our destiny, to tell others about God’s love for the world.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering & Prayer
This love is a gift from God that we experience through our relationship with God. God’s love for us is unconditional. We can’t buy it, earn it and even though we don’t deserve it, God invites us into an eternal relationship in God’s family. So great is the love we experience, we have to share it with others. We are blessed by the Spirit to continue to grow in God’s love. Because when we experience God’s love in our lives, we are never the same, but completely transformed, so that we live through Christ, showing God’s love by serving and loving others.
How have you been transformed by the love of God? Are you trying to earn God’s love, or feel you don’t deserve God’s love? Hear the good news, Christ died for us and that proves God’s love for us.
Prayer: Loving and gracious God, we are overwhelmed by your love. Let your love flow through us, transforming us to be loving like our Savior Jesus. Amen.