He First Loved Us

It's always a wonderful thing to encounter God's specific word several times in the course of the day - since I no longer believe in coincidence, I sincerely take it as His gentle way of getting His point across (short of nagging, since sometimes I need to be told twice!). Today, my "scheduled" Bible verse was one of my favorites: the lesser-quoted scripture on love (1 Corinthians 13 being the more popular, much-used and abused verse). Later this morning, at a wedding, I was pleasantly surprised to hear exactly the same verse read:

My dear friends,
let us love one another
since love is from God
and everyone who loves is a child of
God and knows God.
Whoever fails to love does not know
God,
because God is love.
This is the revelation of God's love
for us,
that God sent his only Son into the
world
that we might have life through him.
Love consists in this:
it is not we who loved God,
but God loved us and sent his Son
to expiate our sins.
My dear friends,
if God loved us so much,
we too should love one another.
No one has ever seen God,
but as long as we love one another
God remains in us
and his love comes to its perfection in us.
This is the proof that we remain in
him
and he in us,
that he has given us a share in his Spirit.
We ourselves have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son
as Saviour of the world.
Anyone who acknowledges that
Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have recognized for ourselves,
and put our faith in, the love God
has for us.
God is love,
and whoever remains in love
remains in God
and God in him.
Love comes to its perfection in us
when we can face the Day of
Judgment fearlessly,
because even in this world
we have become as he is.
In love there is no room for fear
but perfect love drives out fear,
because fear implies punishment
and no one who is afraid has come
to perfection in love.
Let us love, then,
because he first loved us. (1 John 4:7-19)

(More to follow)