Daily Devotional

Here in 1 John we see a verse that looks very similar to John 3:16. A summing up if you will of God’s salvation plan for us. However, this passage differs a little in that it focuses more on the love of God and how that should result in our loving others. This verse actually reminded me of a choir song that we sung many years back I think as part of a Christmas presentation. It stood out to me as the music was very different and the words were mostly a scripture recitation, but more than that, what stuck out to me was a part of the song where the music and tone of the song changes for just a brief moment as we sing this part of the verse “not that we loved God…”

I remember for me that was a key part of the song. It is very common for us to sing of God’s love, and how He died for us. But we tend to gloss over the fact that not only does God love us, but He does so in spite of us. Imagine with me for a moment you are the king or leader of a great nation and there is a portion of the population that are heading for destruction because of choices they have made, including rebellion against you. Now imagine that those people cried out to you for mercy. How easy do you think it would be to forgive them and deliver them from their impending destruction? May not be that hard, or for some, it still wouldn’t be enough and you’d condemn them just the same.

Now imagine the same scenario, however this time the people do not cry out for mercy, they ignore you, or even continue to rebel against you, mock you, hate you, spit at you, and insult you. How likely are you going to be to grant mercy now? I would venture to say most of us, and probably myself included, would say “well, they made their decision.” But God did just the opposite. It wasn’t that we loved God, but that He loved us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That is a love that I don’t think we can fully comprehend. We need to also remember that when we blow it, when we stray off of the straight and narrow, that God still loves us. Not that it should give us an excuse to keep sinning, but we have a God who loves us so much that we can always go back to Him asking for forgiveness because He loved us first, even before we loved Him.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.