"I love because God loves me first."
Letter of John
I recall quite vividly an elderly lady whose name was Margaret. She use to sit in the very front row of our church. Often times when I greeted Margaret, she would tell me just how much she loved God. Her love for God and God's love for her was something that was very real to her. And often times, when she spoke to others, she would remark how special they were in God's eyes. It was as if what she experienced personally in her own life was reflected in what she saw in others.
In the first letter of John, there is a powerful line full of meaning. It reads: "I love because God loves me first." This line has a particular significance to me because, until that moment I personally experienced God's love in a deep and personal way, I don't think I knew much about what love was. But the moment that God's love broke into my life as an experienced reality, my life changed, and it continues to change as this realization deepens. Change in what way? My life changed in how I saw the exterior world. The exterior world now seemed to be a reflection of what I was experiencing interiorly. When I feel loved, the world seems to be a much more loving place.
Two things are clearly evident from the Gospels:
1. God's love for us extends to the point of Christ's willingness to die for us. I wonder how much we fully experience the extent of this love. And I wonder what our lives would be like if we did. This love, when realized, has the ability to transform.
2. Unfortunately, the Gospels also reveal that people generally prefer the darkness to the light. They continue to live in and spread darkness. I'm not sure if "prefer" is the right word. Maybe there are those who just seem to prefer darkness because they have not yet experienced that deep penetrating encounter with the light, the light that can cut through all hardness of heart, and change one in an instant. We cannot underestimate the power of Grace to work in the most unexpected places. and at the most unexpected times.
Jesus tells Nicodemus: "You cannot see God's Kingdom unless you are born from above, but the Spirit is like the wind; it blows where ever it pleases." Our task is only to be a witness to the light, to be witness to God's love with its power to enlighten and change.
Like my friend Margaret, are we not to reflect to the exterior world that which we experience interiorly? What is that? That through Christ, through this incredible mystery of His love for us, we are being saved, made whole. "We love because God loves us first."
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