“We love because he first loved us.” — 1 John 4:19, NIV
Why should we love? The answer is really not so complex. As Christians and followers of Jesus, we love because he loves us. Can we ever love in the same way as Jesus? No, not on our own but we can strive to love because he first loved us. We can rely on him to help us love, because we will fall short on our own. We should lean into and trust God.
Without God we cannot truly love others. 1 John 4:8 says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” There’s no doubt about it, loving other people is hard and even seems impossible at times. However, as Christians we have an identity rooted in Christ, rooted in love.
Because of God’s love for us, we have an example of what love should be. Our love for him should be our top priority in our lives. At times the love of other things can take precedent over this. Perhaps, it’s the love of ourselves, our career, our possessions, our favorite celebrities, our comfort or our achievements. No matter what it may be, our love for God should come first and precede anything else in our lives.