Why Do We Love?

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

I saw the title question posed on Facebook this week. It prompted deep thoughts.

One of the things my husband and I do in addition to our daily Bible study is to stay in touch with God and to give ourselves words of encouragement by listening to devotions or plans on the YouVersion Bible app. If you don’t have this on your phone or iPad, let me urge you to download this app. It’s free. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Yesterday, we began a plan titled How to Love Others. It sounds simple doesn’t it? What do you mean how? You just do it (love them), don’t you?

LEARNING TO LOVE

Loving someone isn’t always easy. It depends on where we are or where we’ve been in our lives.

If we grew up without a secure, loving environment, we may not even know what love looks like. Love for those people may not be something they had modeled for them. To me, that’s all the more reason to love our neighbor. What if we’re the only one who ever shows them, gives them, love?

HE FIRST LOVED US

This particular plan is an audio one with gentle music playing softly in the background. You listen to a man speaking to you and hear him read short scripture verses as he guides you through the plan while you listen. It’s rather nice.

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One of the scriptures cited is 1 John 4:19. It says (NASB) We love, because He first loved us.

That is profound. Think about that. God is the Author of Love. Had God not loved us first, we wouldn’t even have the capacity to love. Anyone or anything. That’s pretty remarkable. Can you imagine a world totally without love?

I know sometimes it seems as if love has taken a vacation from this world. We see and hear so much hate-filled speech from all corners of the world daily. But, the thing is, God created us to be loving beings.

GOD IS LOVE

1 John 4:7-8 (NASB) says, The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love (emphasis, mine). This hit me over the head one day as I was thinking about people I know and love who say they don’t believe in God. If they don’t know God, how can they love one another or their children? It just didn’t make sense to me. I know they love. So, therefore, at someplace within them, maybe buried deep inside from when they were younger, they had an encounter with God. They certainly experienced love somewhere. Otherwise, how could they possibly say they love?

Maybe I’m way off base, but that’s how my brain processed that verse in light of their beliefs, actions, and words.

We all know that Jesus is the example of the greatest love that ever existed. John 3:16 tells us, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (NASB) God the Father gave His only Son for us. God the Son, willingly died for us and our sin. And God the Spirit dwells within us when we become believers. Now, that’s some kind of Love. Unsurpassed by any.

One thing we’re told to do as followers of Christ, as human beings, is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. One would think it would be easy. A whole lot easier than dying for the world, than seeing your Son die for the world.

Yet, we don’t always do that, do we?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

My prayer for all of us today is that we would learn to love as God loves us. It seems almost impossible, but we must remember, in Matthew 19:26, Jesus Himself tells us, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (NASB)

Even loving those we may see as unlovable.

Let me know what you think about my thoughts. They’re mine alone. I’m no Bible scholar. Perhaps I’m way off base. I don’t mind being corrected. That’s how we grow spiritually.

Blessings, y’all!

My husband and I have sung this many times in our lives. It has always been one of my favorites. Perhaps you’ve sung it, too. I hope it blesses you in unimaginable ways this week. If you’d like to know how to be a Jesus Follower, contact me. I’d love to share Him with you. He LOVES you, just as you are, right where you are.