Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
9:00am & 10:45am,
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

First Love

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.” – 1 John 4:18-19.

Like many of you, I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that God loves me. He is the God of the universe, the grand Creator, the author of beauty and wonder. How can we not marvel at His love, to be awestruck by His holy presence each day. If I really grasped God’s love, if I really seized it and took hold of it in the whole of who I am, it would impact my life much more greatly than I can even imagine. 

God loved us while we were enemies. God sacrificed his Son for us while we were enemies. Romans 5:10 says, “For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” Ephesians 3:18-19 reminds us His love is great. It’s wide, long, high, and deep. It surpasses knowledge. The early Christians endured persecution, hardships and unbelievable suffering. Yet Paul wrote to them:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

Such love is beyond our ability to grasp with our minds, but it is not beyond our ability to experience with our hearts. The more we study it, the more we understand it, the more we realize, we will move steadily beyond our understanding. But it does not mean that we cannot have confidence in the fact that God unconditionally loves us. Know it, cling to it, and remember it; don’t underestimate the love of God for you.

Rejection. No one is immune to it. Everyone will experience it to some degree. And no matter who you are, your life is changed because of it. God is our hope. His love which is undeserved is a beautiful reminder that rejection from man never means rejection from God. 

The question is, will you seek the approval of man or seek the approval of the audience of one, God.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your definition of “unconditional love”?
  2. How often do you try to grasp the love of God?

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