Scripture Reading: "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19.
I need to hear this just now and at many other times. I know the two great commandments of the Law, the commandments to love God with all I have and am and to love my neighbor as myself. And I know that the standard goes even higher in the "new commandment" Jesus gives us: that I am to love my fellow Christians, who are in Christ with me and know God, not just as I love myself, but as Jesus loves them. And I truly long to love God--and my brothers and sisters in Christ--that way.
I can hear these great commandments and wonder how I may get a grip on such a high standard for my own life. Perhaps I doubt that it is possible. Of course, I know I can never equal the love of Jesus himself! And He is not asking me to do the impossible, he who knows my limitations better than I know them. But clearly by stating these commandments in the way he does, Jesus wants and calls me to aspire greatly, to aim very high indeed. How can I practically even start to do that? Am I making a key mistake that holds me back?
"We love because he first loved us." This clearly tells me that I must first receive God's love before I can become good at giving love. Receiving love is prior to giving love. And I must receive God's love fully, abundantly, voraciously so that he can elevate my capacity to love. Otherwise, I start to notice that my love is weaker than I know it might be. I need to sit in the Lord's presence and ask that his abundant love and grace fall upon me and inundate my being. This is delightful to do and gives joy to my spirit. It is a prayer for the Holy Spirit that Jesus said our heavenly Father will not refuse. Why am I so slow to simply bask in the Lord's love and grace? It is the fountain of all that is best in my life.
Perhaps I fail at this partly because of another Scripture that I hear so often: "It is better to give than to receive." In Acts 20:35 Paul gives this dictum as a saying of Jesus. It seems to mandate that I should focus more on giving than on receiving. But here I need to go deeper or I will trip. Of course, it is better to give than to receive--and the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are infinitely "better" than I am! And so my truest relationship with them will mostly be their giving and my receiving! And I need to embrace this with all my heart fully to receive the abundance of their love and grace. This is what I want and this I pray for unabashedly. Only when I love with the love he gives me do I have any hope of loving my brothers and sisters as Jesus loves them.
And this is the final key for me. I need to be deeply humble before my Lord; I need to acknowledge that I am his poor and humble servant. Without him I am utterly destitute. I need to see this over and over. With him I can be rich far beyond my imagination. If I am not humble, I will not ask for much! I have to be very humble to ask unstintingly for the abundance of his love and grace--over and over again--and receive it--over and over again!
Prayer: Lord, I prostrate myself before you as your poor and humble servant. Forgive my sins. Pour into me the full abundance of your love and grace. Give me a mind and heart ready to receive them. And carve a deep channel in my being so that your very love may flow out of me in love for my brothers and sisters. I ask in Jesus' name. Amen.