In 1 John 4:19, we hear that we love God because he first loved us. Have you ever stopped to think about the importance of this in the spiritual life? That while we were still sinners, he loved us and sent his only Son. He didn’t wait for us to make progress. In fact, it seems he gave us hundreds of years of history to show us that we were incapable of making progress on our own. Just look at the Israelites and their struggle to live the way God instructed them to live. Despite being the chosen people, they could not do what they were supposed to do.
In Ezekiel 36:27, we receive a hint as to why this is true. In that verse, God tells us that he will place his spirit within us so we can live the covenant. Imagine the joy of the disciples at the Last Supper when, according to John’s Gospel, Jesus said, I have to leave so the Holy Spirit can come. Jn 16:7. Every Jew present at that time would have known what that meant in light of Ezekiel’s prophecy.
For those of us who are baptized, we have received his Spirit. However, we still struggle to live the covenant. Why is that? In truth, the key answer is that life is a journey of learning to cooperate with the Holy Spirit so we can learn to follow his breath-like inspirations towards properly living the covenant. At the same time, I think learning the importance of how he first loved us is a key towards learning to follow those inspirations.
So, why is this passage so important? I would suggest that our ability to love him flows from our ability to receive his love for us. It is difficult to surrender to the truth that despite our sinful behavior, he loves us. Don’t believe me? Just look at your favorite image of Jesus. Make eye contact, and see if you can ponder his love and receive it. Sometimes this might be easy (or seem easy), but other times, it is very difficult. When we learn to receive his love, we learn to love him in return.
In Christ,
dw
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