“We love because He first loved us.”
— 1 John 4:19
Fierce Love, Scandalous Grace
Learn today that the first step of our Christian life is not to work, or to do, or to strive, or even to love — but first to be loved. We have to first permit Him, our God, to love us. We have to, first of all, be stunned, moved, embraced, gripped by His passionate love. And when our souls are overwhelmed, yes, overpowered by His generosity, we cannot help but love the Lover with our all.
Unless we enshrine this truth at the center of our spirituality, all our Christian striving will be a frantic effort to gain His pleasure and acceptance. The fact is, even before we do anything good, we are already His chosen delight. By the mere fact that we exist, our crucified God has already embraced us in His wounds. For while we were still sinners, He died for us. Rather, let all our striving swell from a rush of intense gratitude for pure mercy.
Source: Embraced — Prayers that Nourish Your Soul
Many of us believe that to be loved and blessed by God, we must first be good Christians. We spend all our waking moments trying so hard to do good things, to love others, and to follow his Word. We try to reach out to our ‘unlovable’ officemates, even though all we ever want is to keep at least fifty meters away from them. We go crazy trying to look for old ladies who need help crossing the street. We’d even pump up our prayer lives by reading the Bible four hours a day and meditating on it for another four hours. If at the end of the day, we find ourselves falling short, we’re the first to castigate ourselves for our ‘failures’. We beat ourselves up, we go to confession, we cry out for mercy. Why? Because we thought we don’t deserve the grace of God if we’re ‘bad’ Christians. We believe that we have to ‘prove’ we’re good children before we gain His favor.
Here’s the big news… We don’t have to do anything to earn his love! Look at it this way—does a baby have to smile and say, “I love you, Mommy!” before his mother loves him? That’s crazy, right? That baby is created because of the love of his mother and father. That baby is the fruit of love. That baby is loved first, before he himself could even learn to love.
Friends, that’s how it goes with our own Heavenly Father. He loved us so much and so fiercely, that He gave us His only Son to ensure our place by His side in heaven. His blessings surround us and are free for our taking; we only ever have to open ourselves to them. When we learn to accept that truth—that grace is something freely and scandalously given—then we finally learn to love in return.
God’s love knows no conditions, no boundaries, and no limitations. We only have to first accept that love, and only then can we become the good Christians that we strive to be.
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Thanks Bo. You always inspires me
God really loves us!.. Praise Him…
Thank you Bo Sanchez for sharing the Word of God. And I will share it also to my friends and families.
More Power Shepherd’s Voice and God Bless!
Thank you Bro. Bo! GOD BLESS! 🙂
The Best po kayo “Bo Sanchez”, you make my day complete… Parang Centrum, complete from A to Zinc…
Wonderful article, thank you Bro. BO.
God is very loving to give us blessing like you. Thanks be to God.
Thank you Bo. To God Be The Glory!
Very nice and inspiring!
Thank you Bro Bo, you hit me straight to the point that must be the reason I am struggling to receive God’s grace. ” O Dear Lord give me the grace to accept the truth that you love me first and you love me always no matter what I do and don’t do. Give me the grace to love you back my Jesus.”
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I really love to read all your articles. Every time I open my yahoo mail its your email that i read first. Thank you so much for your generosity and for inspiring me always and for leading me to have strong faith in our lord. Yes he loves us much. All your write ups are inspiring & enlightening.
Thank you bro. Bo for your words of wisdom. God bless you..
Wow, I am super blessed reading this as if it was personally sent to me. (teary-eyed)
Thanks Bro. Bo.Very inspiring!truly,God loves me no matter who I am.
Thank you for this wonderful message, Bro. Bo.
I always look forward to your articles, inspirational writings and teachings. I thank God for giving me the idea to have the courage to get to know more about you, even approach you, listen to you, Bro. Bo, for you help improve the lives of many people, now, mine included. You have brought me closer to Our Father, helped me have a deeper relationship with HIM and a have better understanding of HIS love for us.
Thank You so much Bro. Bo. God bless you, your family and your community.
Thank you thank you thank you. =)
Brother Bo, you hit it bullseye! That’s the kind of theology the Bible was trying to convey…you got it right, thank you!
God’s love knows no conditions. 🙂 thanks,… I’m super blessed.
Bo,
You touch people’s lives in ways amazingly true =) I pray that God blesses you more in shepherding us. Thank you.
Thank you Bro Bo. You touch me with your inspiring words. Please pray for me na makayanan ko lahat ng problems at trials that I have experiencing.
God bless.
Thank you so much! 🙂
Very inspiring!
This article greatly intensifies my understanding about God’s love. Thank you. God bless you more.
Thank You So Much, Bo! For Inspiring Us
Thank you so much for this article.I feel so great and and have given me the confidence that God really love me for being me and how He s guiding me to be the person He wants me to be..It helps me restore my confidence, my worth and dignity as a person.
God Bless You.
I really looking for something in my life that I really could not find, as if there’s something missing in my life. I’m happy for having a good son, even I’m single parent. But in spite of all of this things, I really feel incomplete, I’m really searching for someone that will make my life complete, and I think it’s HIM, because I really forgot HIM always, but now I will promise that I will look for HIM by, loving HIM and searching for HIM, I don’t know where will I start? Please help me Bro. Bo.
Thank you, Bro. Bo! God bless!