We loveeach other because he loved us first. 1 John 4:19 (NLT)
God loves us before we do anything to earn it, just like loving parents do today.
When a family welcomes a new baby, that infant hasn’t earned any love yet. They mess their diapers, keep their parents up all night and never say thank you. Actually, for the first few years, kids don’t earn anything at all. They don’t help out financially, clean the house or appreciate all the hard work their parents put in.
Yet as parents, we pour our hearts and souls into our kids because we’re helplessly in love with them. We don’t pick up our new baby and go, “All right, kid, the jury is still out on you. We haven’t figured out if you’re going to be a blessing to our family or not. So, in eighteen years, we’ll let you know if you’ve earned our love or not.”
No one does that! From day one, we heap love onto our kids to help them to learn and grow. When they mess up or fall, we’re the first ones there to pick them up and love on them.
That’s what our Father God is like. He is not some distant, affection-less parent waiting to see if we’re worth loving. He loves us before we’ve done a single thing to earn it because we are His kids (1 John 3:1).
So, if you’ve been struggling with thinking you need to earn God’s love, think about this: you cannot earn what you already have. God is already in love with you. He is an excellent, adoring parent who is crazy about you. Today, meditate on how deeply His love runs for you no matter what!
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