One evening, while listening to the gospel preached in the open air, a man was struck with the verse: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us." 1 John 4:1010Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10). Then the preacher added:
"I care not who you are or what you are— God loves you." He then pressed the great truth of the Bible home.
The man had despaired of ever being a Christian. He had often been told that he must love God and serve Him in order to be saved. Such a lie is an all too common device of Satan. This man found, as all must find who try it, that he could neither love God nor serve Him. The result was despair.
But as he drank in the truth that God loved him, and gave His Son to be his Savior, he received and believed the message.
Two days later he was visited by the preacher who found him overflowing with joy and kept repeating: "He loves me! Oh, He loves me! Now I can truly say, I love Him."
May others who read this profit by this man's experience. It is impossible to love God by any efforts of your own. Love begets love, and you can only love God by learning the great fact that God loves you.