Loved You First

“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:10

“Love you more.” It’s a catchphrase my daughter and I like to say to one another. I like to think that I love her more, but I can never win at this game. She insists that she loves me more and she will always have the last word. Maybe I could win if we used another phrase—maybe “Loved you first.” Before I ever saw her beautiful face or held her in my arms, I knew that I loved her. Before she could utter the phrase, “Love you more,” I loved her. Before she knew right from wrong and long before she could express her love for me, I loved her. I’m pretty sure I loved her first. 

Is this what God thinks about me? Does he look at me and say, “Loved you first?” That’s what John seems to be saying here in his first letter. Real love is not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Jesus said in John 15, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you.” 

I remember the day I encountered God’s love for the first time in a deeply personal way. It was like I had finally found what I was looking for. But the truth is, God was looking for me first. He was pursuing me. He had chosen me. While I was following the ways of the world, while I was lost in sin and things I would later regret, while I was serving myself and pursuing my own selfish desires, God loved me. He loved me first. 

If you are looking for real love, you may never find it. But real love will always find you. God saw to it when He sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. This is real love, the kind of love that loved us first.