Daily Inspiration - April 23, 2021 | God Loves you and Me

I John 4:19 “We love because He first loved us.”

This short verse offers profound words. I have often marveled at the fact that at one time I can be very open to caring for other people, and what is happening in their life, and at other times it seems like I am almost cold to what is happening in the world around me and the people who make it up. What makes the difference? How come?

That our lives are paradoxical in many aspects is not surprising. There are opposing forces working within each of us. Left to ourselves, without any help, we do not function very well. We might get along OK for a while, but inevitably the proverbial wheels fall off and things do not go well. In this life the struggle between good and evil is real.

The Good News is our God intervenes in our lives long before we know it. We are a part of his creation and thereby we are recipients of who he is. And as the writer of 1 John reminds us “God is love.” That is who he is plain and simple. And because he is love, you I are therefore capable of loving as well. God gives us the ability to love one another as an extension of the love he has for us. No, we do not do this perfectly, yes, we mess up more often than we would like, but the basic drive to love each other comes from our Creator who continues to love us even when we are unaware of it.

Living in God will encourage and empower us to love today. Abiding in him will help break us from turning our backs on him and away from each other. Not always, not perfectly. But know this to be true, we do have the power to do good, to love one another, because of the God who lives within us.

Thank you God for choosing to love us even when we are unlovable. Help me, help us, to have the courage to be who you are to us to each other. May we indeed love because he first loved us.

Peace, Pastor Jerry