God is Love

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

1 John 4:8

It’s sometimes hard for me to grasp just how good God is and how sinful humans are.  I’ve always thought of myself as pretty good except for perhaps a few glaring mistakes that pepper my past.  But just this weekend, it finally hit me that all those things that I do that I think are “good”--- well, those don’t come from me after all.  They ALL come from God.

Think about it.  Do you ever get the urge to bake cookies for a friend or coworker?  That’s God who put that idea in your head. 

Do you ever see a homeless man sitting on the curb and want to buy him a sandwich?  That’s God who put that money in your pocket and God who puts that desire in your heart. 

Do you ever see a woman whose sadness and loneliness is so tangible that you’re simply overwhelmed with compassion when you look into her eyes?  That’s God’s love.

GOD IS LOVE.  We’ve heard that a million times but it’s just as true today as the first time we heard it.  We love because He first loved us.   Those things we do- baking for a friend, feeding a stranger, loving a lost soul- aren’t good deeds that we humans just thought up because we’re so “good”.  They are from the Lord our God, and He uses each of us to love all of His children. 

When I realize how far my own earthly desires are from those desires that God gives me, I am overwhelmed by how little good I am capable of on my own and how thankful I am to be loved by a God who is always good.  Praise the Lord for His unfailing love!

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 106:1