1 John 4:19

In one short sentence John captures the whole direction of the gospel: "We love him, because he first loved us." Our love for God is never the starting point; it is always a response to a love that came before. God loved us first -- before we sought him, deserved him, or even knew him -- and that prior love awakens love in us. The word "first" is the key: it establishes the order and the cause. We did not initiate the relationship; God did. This frees believers from the exhausting idea that we must somehow generate enough love to earn God's favor. Instead, our love springs naturally from having been loved. The verse also implies that our love for others flows from the same source, as the surrounding verses make clear. Everything begins with God's initiative. This is both deeply humbling and deeply reassuring: humbling, because we contribute nothing first; reassuring, because the love we are called to live out is fueled by a love already given to us. Like an echo answering a voice, our love returns the love that reached us first.