1 John: This Is Love: A 5-Day Reading Plan With Nicole SmitheeSample

Key Verse: 1 John 4:9-10

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Reflection:

While we were sinners, Jesus died for us. He didn’t wait to sacrifice His life for us when we had it all together, lived a squeaky-clean life, or didn't struggle with temptation. No, on our worst day— flawed, broken, imperfect, struggling, stuck in our sin, more interested in gratifying our own sinful pleasure than seeking God— that’s when Jesus gave His life for us.

This is love.

It’s a love you can’t ever earn, but a love freely given. And it’s a love you can trust. It’s a love you can count on.

Perhaps you've never known a love like this before. Instead, you’ve known the heartbreak of trusting the wrong person. Someone may have promised they would never leave, and then one day, they were gone. Maybe you know all too well what it’s like to expect love and be given abuse. When we go through these types of experiences in life, it’s hard not to become cynical of love, afraid of love, or guarded from love.

Thankfully, God’s love is not flawed like human love. Where people fail, Jesus does not. His love is not conditional. His love is not weak, but strong. His love is not self-serving, but sacrificial.

The love of God is a love you can open your heart to, get lost in, and find yourself in. It’s a love that changes everything in our lives–- how we see ourselves, others, and our sense of purpose in life.

Do you know this love? Have you experienced it for yourself? Is His love for you shaping your life and how you live?