Love for Love

January 9, 2018

“For God is love.”
– 1 John 4:8

Meditation
The most simple, the most foundational, and most elementary point in the Christian life also carries the potential to transform you entirely, day after day and forever. So what is it? Quite simply, God loves you. EVERYTHING God has done is out of this love. He created the Universe out of love. He created you personally out of love. He left his throne in the Heavens and broke into human history out of love. He poured Himself out and bled His last drop of blood out of love…for you! What more could He have done to make you believe in His love?

This is the very heart of the gospel. Sometimes we need to stay grounded in this simplicity because at times we forget and at times we make it complicated. God loves you. When you really believe in his love and live in his love, everything changes. In rediscovering God’s love for you, you can begin to rediscover your love for God. Return love for love.

Live It! Tip of the Week: Take a few minutes today and ponder the ways
God has sustained you in His love. Consider specific moments, events, and people through whom God has loved you, similar to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55.

Prayer
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”