¹⁹We love, because He first loved us.

God always takes the initiative, period. He started everything: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth . . .” (Gen. 1:1). And He continues to be the catalyst for all things happening. Like in a chess game, God always makes the first move.

The drama surrounding the suffering of Job began with God:

. . . the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” (Job 1:6–7)

The Lord spoke to Satan first, evidence that God had summoned him. And then He laid down the challenge: “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8). Satan took up God’s challenge and retorted that he could cause Job to curse God (Job 1:9–11). Like a novice chess player falling prey to the grandmaster, Satan fell to playing the foil to God’s showcasing His glory to and through Job. No, Satan did not take the initiative in this story; God did. We believe the existence of evil is not an intrusion into God’s otherwise perfect creation but rather the relief against which God’s glory shines more brightly by design. God always makes the first move, and He always moves according to His perfect plan and purposes.

So also with love. God loves first. No one can claim credit for loving Him. Our love for God does not merit salvation, nor does it cause Him to love us more as believers. Jesus said love does not increase beyond what God has done in His Son on the cross: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). His substitutionary death for us is the consummate act of love; it is eternal love. We may grow in our understanding and experience of it, but we do not get any more of His love because we have it completely.

It is because of this truth that we can love the way God loves. We do this not because we want to entice God to love us more or coerce Him to keep His promise to save us from hell. He has already loved us and continues to love us. The apostle Paul wrote that “[nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39). So why should we be motivated to love God and others? Because He first loved us, and that was while we were sinners (Rom. 5:8), and He continues to love us.

Lord, I find my identity in You, like John, as one whom Jesus loves.