1 John 4:19 - LOVE BEGETS LOVE.
1 John 4:19 (NKJV) We love Him because He
first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (NIV) We love because he first
loved us.
INTRODUCTION
God's love is the source of all human love,
and it spreads like fire. In loving his
children, God kindles a flame in their hearts. In
turn, they love others, who are warmed by God's
love through them. [Life Application SB]
Love is evidence of salvation. If you are
born of God through faith in Jesus Christ, you
have His nature within (2 Pet. 1:4). Since "God
is love" (vv. 8, 16), His children who have His
nature should also manifest His love. The children
should be like the Father!
Our love for others makes God's love real
and visible to them (v. 12) so we can better
witness to them about Christ. It also makes God real
and personal to us. Merely reading in the Bible
about God's love is not enough. Seek to experience
that love in your heart by sharing it with
others.
Just as truth is victorious over lies
(vv. 1-6), love is victorious over fear (vv.
17-19). As you mature in your love for God, you
realize that you have nothing to fear, for your
Father has everything under control. You trust
those you love, and faith and love will give
victory over fear. [Chapter by Chapter Bible
Commentary by Warren Wiersbe]
COMMENTARY PEARL
Jesus did not come to men with commands and
threatenings, but with love that is without a parallel.
Love begets love; and thus the love of Christ
displayed upon the cross woos and wins the sinner, and
binds him, repenting, to the cross, believing and
adoring the matchless depths of a Saviour's love.
Christ came to the world to perfect a righteous
character for many, and to elevate the fallen race.
But only a few of the millions in our world will
accept the righteousness and excellency of his
character, and fulfill the requirements given to secure
their happiness. RH03-04-75
Channels of Blessing 1 John 4:19
Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever
the profession, no man has pure love to God
unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But
we can never come into possession of this
spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is
the love of Christ in the heart. When self is
merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously.
The completeness of Christian character is
attained when the impulse to help and bless others
springs constantly from within--when the sunshine of
heaven fills the heart and is revealed in the
countenance. {COL 384.2}
It is not possible for the heart in which
Christ abides to be destitute of love. If we love
God because He first loved us, we shall love all
for whom Christ died. We cannot come in touch
with divinity without coming in touch with
humanity; for in Him who sits upon the throne of the
universe, divinity and humanity are combined.
Connected with Christ, we are connected with our
fellow men by the golden links of the chain of
love. Then the pity and compassion of Christ will
be manifest in our life. We shall not wait to
have the needy and unfortunate brought to us. We
shall not need to be entreated to feel for the
woes of others. It will be as natural for us to
minister to the needy and suffering as it was for
Christ to go about doing good. {COL 384.3}
[Remnant SB]
COMMENTARY
There is no light in the planet but that
which proceedeth from the sun; and there is no
true love to Jesus in the heart but that which
cometh from the Lord Jesus himself. From this
overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all
our love to God must spring. This must ever be a
great and certain truth, that we love Him for no
other reason than because He first loved us. Our
love to Him is the fair offspring of His love to
us. Cold admiration, when studying the works of
God, anyone may have, but the warmth of love can
only be kindled in the heart by God's Spirit. How
great the wonder that such as we should ever have
been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvellous
that when we had rebelled against Him, He should,
by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw
us back. No! never should we have had a grain
of love towards God unless it had been sown in
us by the sweet seed of His love to us. Love,
then, has for its parent the love of God shed
abroad in the heart: but after it is thus divinely
born, it must be divinely nourished. Love is an
exotic; it is not a plant which will flourish
naturally in human soil, it must be watered from
above. Love to Jesus is a flower of a delicate
nature, and if it received no nourishment but that
which could be drawn from the rock of our hearts
it would soon wither. As love comes from
heaven, so it must feed on heavenly bread. It cannot
exist in the wilderness unless it be fed by manna
from on high. Love must feed on love. The very
soul and life of our love to God is His love to
us.
"I love thee, Lord, but with no love of
mine,
For I have none to give;
I love thee, Lord; but all the love is
thine,
For by thy love I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
Emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in
thee." [Morning and Evening by Charles H.
Spurgeon]
One reason God wants us to love is
because he is love, and he created us to be like him
- to love. The only reason were able to
love is because God loves us: Love comes from
God because God is love (1 John 4:7-8
NIV).
We were created in Gods image to do
two things on Earth: Learn to love God and learn
to love other people. Life is all about love.
But love all started with God. He loved
us first, and that gives us the ability to love
others (1 John 4:19). The only reason you can love
God or love anybody else is because God first
loved you. He showed that love by creating you. He
showed that love by everything you have in life;
its all a gift of Gods love. And he showed
that love by sending Jesus Christ to Earth to die
for you.
In order to love others well, we first
need to understand and experience how much God
loves us. We dont want to just talk about love,
read about love, or discuss love; we need to
encounter the love of God.
We need to reach a place when we truly
understand how God loves us completely and
unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that
we cannot make God stop loving us.
Once were secure inside Gods
unconditional love, well start cutting people a lot
more slack. We wont be as angry as weve
been. Well be more patient. Well be more
forgiving. Well be more merciful. Well give
others grace.
But you cannot give others something you
havent received yourself. I hope that as you learn
how much God loves you, youll also let him
heal your heart so that his love can flow freely
through you. Its impossible to love others until
you really feel loved yourself. [Daily
Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
Love Creating Love
Although the love of God is clearly laid
out in the Old Testament, why did humankind have
to wait so long to have the message spelled out
in such clear terms as John uses: "God is love"
(1Jn 4:8)? People could not see this sufficiently
clearly until they had looked into the face of
Jesus. In the life of Jesus is the clearest
revelation that God is love.
So few of us open ourselves to the love
of God. We have more fear of Him than we have
love for Him. There is, of course, a godly fear
(or reverence), but that is not what I mean. If
we fail to comprehend how much we are loved by
God, then there will be no energy to turn the
machinery of our lives in the way they were meant to
turn.
Whenever I doubted the love of God as a
young Christian, I was told I should go to
Calvary. I never quite understood what that meant
until one day I complained to God that He could
not really love me; if He did, He wouldn't let
such things happen as were befalling me. He gave
me no answer but showed me the Cross. And as I
saw His Son dying there for me, the scales fell
from my eyes and I found love for Him flowing out
of His love for me. I discovered what 1 John
4:19 means: "We love because He first loved us."
Love for God is not the fruit of labor
but the response of our hearts to being loved.
It is not something we manufacture; it is
something we receive.
O God my Father, save me from believing
that my problem is "I don't love You enough,"
when the real problem is "I don't know how much I
am loved by You." Let the scales fall from my
eyes right now and let me see - really see. In
Jesus' name. Amen. [Every Day With Jesus Bible with
Selwyn Hughes devotional re John 19:17-18]
A Reasonable Response
Some people imagine the God of the Old
Testament as harsh and mean, while the God of the New
Testament is loving and kind. But that is nonsense.
There is only one God of both the Old and New
Testaments, and He is a God of love.
He is a God who is gracious and a God who
is full of mercy. But He is also a holy God and
a righteous God. And He gives us absolutes to
live by.
We find those absolutes in the Ten
Commandments. And when God gave these commandments to the
people of Israel, He also gave the motive for
keeping them: I am the Lord your God, who rescued
you from the land of Egypt, the place of your
slavery (Exodus 20:2 NLT).
Notice the Lord didnt begin by
threatening or scaring them. He started by reminding
them of what kind of God He is: a loving, caring
God who delivered them from their misery.
God was saying, loosely paraphrased,
Hey, I took care of you guys. I delivered you
from your bondage in Egypt. You were a slave
there.
We might think, Well, thats nice,
but Im not an Israelite who was delivered
from bondage in Egypt.
Yes, thats true, but if you have put
your faith in Jesus Christ, then you were a
sinner who was delivered from the bondage of your
sin, were you not?
Think about all that God has done for
you. Because of that, you should want to
reciprocate. You should want to honor Him in the way that
you live. The apostle John reminds us, We
love Him because He first loved us (1 John
4:19 NKJV).
He has certain expectations of us. Our
love for God should be a response to His love for
us. [Greg Laurie from Harvest Ministries;
https://www.harvestdaily.com]
We're told throughout Scripture to love
others. In fact, according to Jesus, loving our
neighbors as ourselves is one of the two greatest
commandments, right next to loving God wholeheartedly. But
we can't have God's kind of love for others
unless we've experienced it ourselves. A person
whose wounds have never been healed by God's love
will relate to others with whatever needs and
distortions those wounds have created. A person who has
never experienced unconditional love will never be
able to give unconditional love. So immersing
ourselves in God's love is one of the greatest things
we can do for others. Whenever we bask in his
love and let it truly sink into our hearts, we
not only are enjoying him - we are equipping
ourselves to love others well. [NIV Once A Day Bible]
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Workshop Prayer
Ole Hallesby describes our times of
prayer when the Spirit works in us as wonderful
times of rest we can anticipate with joy. He also
says the time of prayer should be not only a
resting place but also a workshop.
Power and grace from heaven come through
prayer, and Hallesby urges us to avail ourselves of
what God wants to give. He paints a picture of
Jesus after his ascension to heaven, reaching his
arm so far down to us that we who are small and
sinful can reach it every time we pray. "Whenever
we touch his almighty arm, some of his
omnipotence streams in upon us, into our souls and into
our bodies. And not only that, but through us,
it streams out to others."
When Hallesby gets specific about
prayer's workshop practicality, it cuts close to the
bone: "We should say to God as we mingle with our
dear ones each day, 'God, give them each thy
blessing. They need it, because they live with me, and
I am very selfish and unwilling to sacrifice
very much for them, although I do love them.'"
Whatever we may feel about that
self-indicting prayer, his prediction that such prayers
would bring "a good spirit to our homes" rings
true.
Hallesby points out something we'll
seldom admit - we sometimes make critical remarks
in our minds about people we see. He challenges
us with this exhortation:
"Just think if the Spirit of God could
make the new nature within us so strong that we
would automatically lift our hearts in prayer to
God every time we met someone."
Instead of critical thoughts, we would
pray God's blessing on others. "Wherever we go,"
Hallesby says, "we meet people who are in need of
something. If the Spirit could give us that open eye of
love, we would turn to the Lord and tell him the
needs of both our friends and of our enemies. That
is how he would like to have us pray."
Father, as I meet people today, help me
to see them with your eyes. I pray for your
Spirit to love them through me. Instead of judging
others, help me to pray for them.
We love each other because he loved us
first. 1 John 4:19, NLT [The One Year Book of
Encouragement by Harold Myra re vs. 19]
Moe Or Joe?
Contrast the situation of Moe and Joe.
Moe expects everyone to serve him. The moment he
awakens he thinks, Is someone going to bring me
coffee? If the service of the convenience store
clerk is slow, Moe is mad. If the employees at
work need more time than Moe wants to give them,
Moe lets them know.
Moe expects people to cater to his plans,
meet his needs, and reward him. Consequently, Moe
is seldom happy.
Joe, on the other hand, measures the
success of his day with this standard: Whom can I
help today? He serves his wife by bringing her
coffee. He serves the convenience store clerk by
giving him a smile. He keeps a positive attitude at
work.
The world doesn't exist to take care of
him. He exists to take care of others. Joe goes
to bed with a smile on his face.
Which one are you? Moe? Joe? Or a little
of both, Mo-Jo?
Make your happiness dependent on how
others serve you, and you will always be
disappointed. Find happiness in serving others, and ...
well, you can complete the sentence. [You Can
Count On God by Max Lucado]
CLOSING THOUGHT
Life Is An Echo
A son and his father were walking in the
mountains.
Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself
and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
To his surprise, he hears the voice
repeating, somewhere in the mountain:
"AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"
Angered at the response, he screams:
"Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks to his father and asks: "What's
going on?"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay
attention."
And then he screams to the mountain: "I
admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"
Again the man screams: "You are a
champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"
The boy is surprised, but does not
understand. Then the father explains: "People call this
echo, but really this is life. It gives you back
everything you say or do. Our life is simply a
reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the
world, create more love in your heart. If you want
more competence in your team, improve your
competence.
This relationship applies to everything,
in all aspect of life; life will give you back
everything you have given to it. [source unknown]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY
John 3:16 - LOVE SUPREME!
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20211206-0816.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
