We Love Because

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

Someone I love very dearly; someone I hold very close to my heart needs to know he is loveable. But how do you tell someone that and have them understand? How do you show it in a way they will FINALLY believe you? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. My new revelation of this verse. The answer isn't our love for someone but:

We love because God first loved us. 

I'd always questioned what it meant... Did it mean I didn't REALLY have free will? The only reason I love God is because he loved me first.? What if he hadn't loved me first? Are there others out there whom he doesn't love. NO! 

God loves everyone. Just the way I can love all three of my children with equal passion, strength, and depth. Yet individually. So God loves everyone. There is no "what if" God didn't love me first. It is what it is. He loves us. (Period)

My revelation this morning was enhanced by a Donald Miller Quote "...sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself..." 
That's it. 

You have to SEE God loving you before you can in turn love. 

When you see that in our sinful wretched nature God loved us. He loved us so much that He wanted to die for you just so you could be with Him forever. You have to see His forgiveness and grace wash over you. You have to see his mercy clothe you. Then and only then will you come to a place of being so humble the only thing you have left to offer is love. 

I see this not only for myself this amazing revelation. But, while my heart aches for my boy who is battling identity. Who doesn't know who he is because his father walked out on him. My boy hasn't healed from that wound just yet. In my deep gut wrenching moment of prayer God brought that verse into my head. You see his father had a father who bailed on him too. So he had the same identity crisis. I thought MY Love was enough for my ex-husband and I painfully realized "my love" was never going to change him. So my desperate prayer continues on "then Lord how can I teach my boy about your love? How can he learn to love if he can't love himself? If he feels such a lack of direction and purpose then how can he know what you have created him for?"  Most boys find this answer within their own father. But when you have one who bails on you then you find it more difficult to understand life's path. 

Through tears and prayers the Lord spoke to me that he needs to know my love for him before he can understand how to love anyone else. 

We love because He first loved us. This is a show and tell verse. God said "I'm going to love you, I'm going to show you how you are to love yourself. Then and only then will you  be able to love others as I have loved you."

Lord please open my boys eyes to see how you love him. Please open his heart up to receive your love and to accept it. Show him because of You he is worth that love. Not because of any other thing- but because you created him and he is your masterpiece. 

Thank you God for this precious child and children you have blessed me with. Without them I find it would be so much harder to know the amazing God that you are. It's through them that you teach me each new day just how much you love us. 

Mom Humbled to the core!