Title

Why We Love God

Scripture
We love Him because He first loved us.
(1 John 4:19)
Devotional
Everything we have is a gift from God. Our talents, abilities, giftedness, including our faith are all grants from our Creator. Even our love for God is a gift from God. He has endowed us with the ability to love Him. The only reason we love God is because He has first loved us. All we can do is reciprocate that love. Anything good that we have or do was first done for us by the Lord God. Because God first loved us, we ought to be first to love others. We should not have to wait to be loved before we love. If we choose to love the unlovable, we in turn will be chosen to be loved. Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” God has chosen to love us; we are to choose to love others. We cannot take any credit for loving God, but God will give us credit for loving one another.
Thought For The Night
“A man shall never go to heaven except by such a disposition and frame and temper of soul as is wrought by the Holy Ghost, persuading the soul first of the love and favor of God in Christ… And how shall we love God except we be persuaded that he loves us first?” Richard Sibbes, (1577-1635),  A Description of Christ, one of the most influential figures in the Puritan movement during the earlier years of the seventeenth century. 
Evening Text
1 John 4:19: We love Him because He first loved us.
Looking for Answers
Evening Study Guide
Defining: “Reciprocal love”: Love because you are loved, both as a receptor and provider.
 
Referencing: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” 1 John 4:10-11.
 
Applying: If we love God because He first loved us, others will love us if we first love them with the love of God. Practice that love.