IT is Sunday morning, and little May, who has been up early, is saying over to herself her texts of Scripture before she runs off to her class in the Sunday School. May has not yet been once late at her class; neither has she ever had a bad mark for ill-behavior there, so little May sits in the seat of honor beside her teacher. Can you tell me why you should not be always punctual and attentive?
Will you learn May’s three texts? Each one has the little but bright word love in it. Nothing could make you happy if no one loved you, neither can anything in the world make us truly happy unless we know that God loves us. We will number the texts:
Why does God love poor guilty sinners who do not love Him? There is only one answer: because “God is love.” It is His divine pleasure to love.
The next verse speaks of God’s great love. It is a very great love, because He loved us when we were so far off from Him, and because He has brought us so very near Himself. We love persons because we find in them something which we like. If you think over the names of your young friends, you will say, “Yes, I love them because they do the things which I like.” But God’s love is very great, and His mercy is rich, hence He loved us in our state of enmity to Him, and when we were dead in our sins.
The third verse speaks not only of God’s love to us, but also of our love to Him. There is a because, a reason for loving, in all our love. God gave Jesus to die for us, He pitied us when we were dead in sins, He has made us His people, and because of His great love to us, we give our little love to Him. God loves us because He is love; we love God because He first loved us. Tell me, dear young readers, do you love God?