“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:10
What is the meaning of love to you?
The bible clearly describes the meaning of love in 1 John 4:10, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Often we forget a love that far surpasses all other types of intimacy and affection – that is the love of God.
If I may add, to further emphasise the indescribable and complete love of God our Father in verse 10, that John defines the meaning of Love. Here it is, the purest and spectacular form of love, not that we loved God – because we had absolutely no love for Him, not by our own efforts and actions that motivated the desire to love Him, but by God loving us first. God loved us despite our flaws, our sinful nature, and iniquities that reside in the deepest depths of our hearts. He loved us despite the vast separation that sin had caused for us to be far from Him and turned our backs on Him. He loved us despite the times we have rejected, despised, and ignored His still small voice. Knowing full well that the Holy and Righteous God the Father can never tolerate sin no matter how minuscule it may be, He devised salvation’s plan, or rather the only plan, to redeem and save us. God sent Jesus Christ into the world, knowing that He would have to suffer, be persecuted, and endure Calvary’s cross to help and redeem Adam’s helpless race.
My dear friend, this is the true meaning of Love, for there has never been, and can never be a greater portrayal of such a loving act. God, in that, while we were yet sinners, laid down His only begotten Son to be the perfect sacrifice and atonement for sin (Romans 5:8), so we may receive the eternal promise, and in Christ’s place, to bear all the weight of sin upon Himself, receiving the full wrath of God.
I pray that this verse may serve as a reminder of God’s unprecedented love for you and that we ought to show God’s agape love to those around us, as people who have so undeservingly but graciously received. Thus, we must first place Christ as the centre of our hearts. Remember the gospel, which tells how marvelous and how wonderful our Saviour’s love is for us. In doing so, all our thoughts, actions, and words become Christ-centred, and by the empowerment of the supreme love of God, we will love Him and love others.
“And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?”
And Can It Be – Charles Wesley