February 18, 2024

“We love because he first loved us.”
—1 John 4:19

This year, the beginning of Lent and Valentine’s Day coincided on Wednesday. That seemed so fitting to me, because Lent marks the moment in the traditional Christian calendar when we turn our attention to the cross and resurrection of Jesus. And as 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The greatest gift of love ever given was the one God gave to us in the person of His Son, who laid down His life in love for us.

Not only that, but all our love is ultimately derivative, an echo of the original shout, a reflection mirroring the Great Love Himself. God is love. So we who are made in His image—when we are at our best—love in a manner that is like Him. When we give ourselves in radical self-donation, when we choose to be selfless and sacrificial, when we put the needs of our beloved ahead of our own, we are imitating our Father’s love. We are showing one another the love Jesus poured out when He gave Himself on the cross for us. And we are yielding to the influence of the Spirit whose fruit in our lives is, among other things, love.
We love because God first loved us. The Father loves us into life.

The Son loves us into redemption.
The Spirit loves us into transformation.
We are being loved into loveliness.
We love because He first loved us.

So as Lent begins and Valentine’s Day comes and goes, let us remember that we are indeed loved, more than we know!