In The Tank Comments

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We love because… Monday, May, 24, 2010
by John Fischer

Life is for love. We live to love. Love is so important, it is synonymous with God, or, as the Bible says it: "God is love." When you love, you are near to God. When you get near God, you don't become more spiritual, you become more loving.

"We love each other because He loved us first" (1 John 4:19). This immediately says a lot about the situation.

Primarily, it makes God's love a starting point for everyone. This is not about growth -- some spiritual mountain to climb where we can finally start loving other people -- it's quite the opposite. It's spiritual ground zero. God loves us first. That's where we all start. In the beginning, God loved us, and John says that because He loved us first, we can love each other.

So what's the connection between His love for us and our love for each other? Well, think about this. When you start with being unconditionally loved by God, you take the wind out of the sail of earning love, or of locating the reason for love in yourself. We are loved because God choose to love us, not because of us, but because of His nature. He is love; so He loves us.

That means we're all at ground zero when it comes to being loved. We have no worth in ourselves except that which comes from being loved by God. As John Ortberg wrote in Love Beyond Reason, "There is a love that fastens itself onto ragged little creatures, for reasons that no one could ever quite figure out, and makes them precious and valued beyond calculation." What a deal: God loved us into existence, loves value on us, and loves us home to Him. And we, "ragged little creatures" that we are, do nothing to bring about any of this.

This is why we can love. Because God loved us first this way, we can love others, too, because they have been given worth by the same unearned love, just as we have. The only catch is (and its' a big one) we have to accept God's love on this basis -- on the basis that we do not deserve it; we merely receive it.

The only thing that can keep us from knowing God's love is thinking we deserve it.


Comments Go Back
Today's date: Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Janean Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Bloomington, IL, USA
My adult Sunday school teacher, Mr. Wayne Good, has taught our Sowers Class that love is defined as, "Seeking the best interest of another." I finally understood what he meant by that nearly a year ago when I left a corporate job to be a stay at home mom - even though for the first time both my children were school age and it would have been easier to arrange baby sitting than every before. It was time to go. Maybe past time. I left for my family, especially my youngest son who would say to me, "I just want you." We're eating out less and vacationing closer to home and buying less "stuff". Best of all once I got out from under the stress and deadlines of life in advertising I could breathe again. The elephant was no longer sitting on my chest and I was filed with joy from the inside out. I'd forgotten what that felt like. I was told I had more bounce in my step and the lilt was back in my voice. My extended family felt like they got ME back and I didn't even know I was missing. Love is powerful stuff.

John Fischer Responds
Wow. A good lesson.

Gina Monday, May 24, 2010
Springfield, VA, 22153
Sorry to go off-topic, but I've stopped receiving my In the Tank e-mails, and never got a response when I wrote to ask what the problem was. Help! (Please and thank you!)

John Fischer Responds
It's an old delivery system that needs to be upgraded. We are working on this but in the meantime, you can always go to www.fischtank.com and click on "In the Tank" for current Catches.

Gary Friedrich Monday, May 24, 2010
Arnold, Mo, USA
Hi, John,
Just wanted to let you know I'm note receiving the Tank every day. Don't know if other readers are having the same problem or if I have a 'puter glitch. But I miss reading you every day and would like to get this fixed if possible.

Gary Friedrich

John Fischer Responds
It's an old delivery system that needs to be upgraded. We are working on this but in the meantime, you can always go to www.fischtank.com and click on "In the Tank" for current Catches.

Barbara Schmidt Monday, May 24, 2010
Cypress, CA, USA
The only thing that can keep us from knowing God's love is .... to choose to NOT accept it!

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