DAILY BREAD: THE GOD-KIND-OF-LOVE EXPERIENCE

Once we are secure inside God’s unconditional love, we’ll start cutting people a lot of slack. We won’t be as angry as we’ve been. We’ll be more patient. We’ll be more forgiving. We’ll be more merciful. We’ll give others grace.

We love because God first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19

Love started with God. He loved us first and that gives us the ability to love others. (1 John 4:19) The only reason you can love God or love anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. He showed that love by creating you. He showed that love by everything you have in life; it’s all a gift of God’s love.

In order to love others and to become great lovers, we first need to experience the rapturous love of God, understand and feel how much God loves us. We don’t want to just talk about love, read about love, or discuss about love; our need is to experience the love of God. No one experiences this love and remains the same.

We need to reach a day when we finally, fully understand how God loves us completely and unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that we cannot make God stop loving us.

– Adapted from Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional