Articles
I love You
“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This terse, matter-of-fact statement
by the beloved apostle is profoundly meaningful. He did not say, “We love God…”; rather, “We
love…” Our ability to love is dependent upon God’s love for us. It is the inspiration to love, and
it furnishes the pattern for love.
Therefore, it becomes obvious that my aptitude for loving relies upon my grasp of the
eternal truth that God loves me — even me. Jesus’ assurance that God so loved the world as to
give His Son (John 3:16) has been called the Golden Text of the Bible. Paul grandly stated: “But
God commends His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8). It is pathetic how few people realize this glorious fact. Not that God loves us in a
broad, generic sense, but that He loves each as an individual — by name.
It is startling to discover how many have so little sense of their personal worth. Because
they often seek to conceal their feelings of inadequacy behind a bravado of antisocial behavior,
we often mistake their problem as conceit, the very opposite of their real difficulty. This self-hate
surfaces in many different ways — all of them bad. When first it really dawns upon such a one,
that God does indeed love him regardless of his deficiencies, real and imagined, the change in
attitude can be astounding.
But it must be recognized that merely telling this truth to such confirmed self-despisers
will have little impact. The message must be accompanied by the example of the messenger.
Christians must show this concern for others in their own attitudes. When God’s love for said
subject is driven home as to be truly convincing, his loving response will be quick and thorough.
He will desire to do God’s will — “If a man love Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23).
Once he recognizes his worth by divine grace, he learns to love himself — and others, who also
share in this grace.
Eugene Brewer, Manchester, CT
via White Rock church of Christ, Dallas, TX
