Why I like God

Danny Fourie

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:10,19

Although I love God, it does unfortunately not mean that I do not cause God sorrow and that I now possess all wisdom. Least of all. The road to perfection is a long way, but I can say with John that I love God because He first loved me.

John warns, and highlights the fact that it is not we who first loved God. He loved us first. John emphasizes that the nature and origin of love does not lie in our response to God. That is not where true love originated; that is not what love in essence is. Love is and begins with God. And if we feel anything or do anything that can be called love, it is because we have a bonding with God.

God's nature is love and when we are born again and receive him in faith, we share that nature of God – we can also love. God demonstrated his love in history by sending his Son so that we might have eternal life through him.

What is unique about the Christian faith is that we also have the inner impulse to love others and to love God. God provides and enables the love we need. The love with which God first loved us, and proved by sending his Son, sparkle in our hearts. We experience that love of God, which he demonstrated in history, as an inner reality of God's Spirit in our lives. This is another reason why I like God.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, that your love can be a reality in my life, with which I can love you and others. Help me to live your love to the full. Amen.