Morning By Morning #163

We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19 KJV

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Just as there is no light on earth except that which comes from the sun, there is no true love for Jesus in our hearts except that which comes from the Lord Jesus Himself. Our love for God must flow from the overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God. This is a great undeniable truth: “We love him” for no other reason than “he first loved us.” Our love for Him is beautifully born of His love for us.

Anyone may have cold unemotional admiration for the works of God, but warm emotional love can only be kindled in our hearts by God’s Spirit. The greatest wonder is that we, such as we are, have ever been brought to love Jesus at all! How miraculous that after having rebelled against Him, He was willing to seek to draw us back through a display of such amazing love!

No, we would never have had even a seed of love toward God without it being sown in our hearts by the sweet seed of His love for us! Thus, our love’s parent is the love God “has poured out…into our hearts” (Rom. 5:5). Then after being divinely born, this love must be divinely nourished. It is an exotic plant—not one that will naturally flourish in human soil, and one that must be watered from above. Love for Jesus is a delicate flower and would soon wither if the only nourishment it received came from the hard rocky soil of our hearts. Just as love comes from heaven, it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot exist in the wilderness unless it is fed with manna from on high.

Love must feed on love, and the very soul and life of our love for God is His love for us.

I love thee, Lord, but with no love of mine,

For I have none to give;

I love thee, Lord; but all the love is thine,

For by thy love I live.

I am as nothing, and rejoice to be

Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in thee.

Madame Jeanne-Marie Guyon, 1648–1717

Translated from French by William Cowper, 1731-1800

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Love is a gift of God. In fact, salvation and everything that accompanies it comes from Him—“All this is from God” (2 Cor. 5:18). This gift of love that accompanies our salvation is wonderful evidence of that salvation, because we were once God’s enemy. But when Jesus saved us “he himself [became] our peace…and…destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph.2:14).

Yet the miracle of God’s love comes with a responsibility, not only to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” but also to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God”(l John 4:7).

Lord, thank You for Your gift of love. May it overflow to those around me.