We Love Because He First Loved Us...

Mondays with Jesus 2017: Devotions to Begin Each Week of the Year
“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

(Written by our oldest son, Rene Zeringue.)

My daughter doesn’t love me. I know that sounds like the opening statement of a man lying on a couch in front of a PhD, but the statement remains. She doesn’t love me. Granted: she is not yet a month old. She does not yet comprehend love, nor will she for at least another . . . 20 years or so. She is still figuring out what is going on in this bright place. Her eyes are deep, yet shallow. She does not love me, but she will. I don’t know when it will begin, I don’t know how it will start, but I do know that it will happen. Why will it happen, you ask? Because I love her. I love her now. Right now. Before she loves me, I love her. Because I hold her, because I kiss her incessantly, because I express my love throughout each day, because I provide for her, because I care in a way unknown before my sons arrived, because I love her now, she will love me. I long for that day with everything in me. It is going to bring me untold joy each time I hear it, as it does now with my sons.

Praise God that He loved you first. When you had not even begun to comprehend love, when you were still figuring out this bright place, when your eyes were shallow, when you did not love Him, He loved you. God longed for the day with everything in Him that you would reciprocate that love, and it brings Him untold joy each time He hears and sees it. Praise God that He loved you first.

Isaiah 64:7 – “There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.”

Romans 3:10-12 – “No one seeks for God.”

They are telling me that we are not too far away from my daughter reaching for me. She has not done that yet, but she will. I reach for her now. Many, many times each day, I reach for her. I reach for her to change her, to burp her, to carry her from place to place, to comfort her, but most times I reach for her just to hold her, to have her closer to me, to love her. I reach for her again and again, and because I do, she will reach for me one day, and I cannot wait. Again, I long for that day with everything in me.

Praise God that He reached for you first. When you were not only unable to reach but unwilling, he reached for you. When you were convinced that you were good on your own, that you did not need help, that you were sufficient, he reached for you. When you were convinced that you had all of the answers you needed, He reached for you. When you did nothing but cry and whine with all selfishness, He reached for you. WHAT JOY it brought Him the day you reached for Him, because He first reached for you. WHAT JOY it brings Him each day as you reach, arms to the Heavens, for the One that you love. Praise God that He reached for you first.

This Week: The next time you see a baby, their eyes attempting to focus and see you, their faces confused and attempting to learn about this great big world surrounding them…think about the fact that, even when you couldn’t comprehend the mere essence of love, when you were simply something to be cared for…He reached for you. He cared for you. He loved you! Praise God!

Renee Andrews