My sweet 3-year-old niece Collins gave me a piece of artwork she had made the other day. She was so proud of it! As she gave it to me, she said, “Be very careful with it. It’s very special!” I promised her that I would be careful with it. Why did she want to ensure I went to great lengths to protect her artwork and take care of it? She created it. She loved it because it was her special artwork. Like all of us, Collins was proud of and loved the thing she had created. If we, mere human beings, take pleasure in the things we create and love them, how much more does God, the Creator of the world, prize His creation? It is His love that compels us to love others.
John, who described himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote about God’s love in 1 John 4. He said, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love, live in God, and God lives in them” (verse 16). Remember that John had clearly experienced God’s love, and as a result, when describing God, “love” is the word that he chose. After talking about God’s love, John explained that God’s love compels us to show that same love to the people around us. After all, they are His creation whom He loves. John explained, “We love each other because he loved us first” (verse 19). God showed the ultimate expression of love when He sent Jesus to die for us on the cross to rescue us from our sins. Therefore, He loves each and every person on the planet. This means that every person we interact with is someone God loved first. Because God loves them unconditionally and sees them as His prized creation, He compels us to love others as well.
Viewing each person we interact with as a person who is God’s handiwork and treasured creation whom He loves changes everything. It creates in us a deeper love for people. It gives us more kindness, understanding, patience, and much more. It is time we see each person we lock eyes with as people who reflect the very image of God. Will you show them His love today?
Memorize 1 John 4:19. Let this verse remind you of our call to love the people around us because they are dearly loved by God. As you reflect on and memorize this verse, commit to love the people you will interact with today, remembering that they are dearly loved and treasured by God.
"Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers."
