Loving God should be easy. But it’s not. We think of love in a conditional sense. We feel loved when… Someone shows love by… We know they love us because… We take those same concepts and apply them to God. The rules don’t apply, though. God doesn’t work by our rules and doesn’t mold to fit our ideas (thankfully). His love doesn’t work the same way. He does have expectations of his children. He does redirect when we go off course. There are consequences for our mistakes. These are all for us. It does not change his love for us, though.
God doesn’t love us because… God just loves us. He doesn’t need a reason. He doesn’t need an excuse. And his love is steady and sure. So when things don’t go well, God is still love. When our entire lives fall off track, he is there to help pick up the pieces. When we completely lose all understanding of his love, he continues to love us.
These are things which should baffle us but also bring us to a place of gratefulness and peace. We didn’t earn his love so we don’t un-earn his love. He does not work like we do. He is exactly the One we need when all else fails. God loves you. God loves me.
Out of this, how could we not love him? We struggle because we don’t understand. We fight against his love because things are a mess. We push him away because we are hurt or damaged or simply broken. We strive against the One who welcomes us home. Yet, he continues to love.
What a gift it is to be loved more than we could ever imagine. What might it look like to truly begin to love God with our all? What does it feel like to love him in spite of… ? What does it mean to love God with our strength – all that we have that we can muster? How might we love God because he first loved us?
Focus Scripture:
1 John 4:19
19 We love because he first loved us.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 