1 John 4:9, 10
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
That changes everything.
John takes the whole discussion of love and brings it down to one blazing truth. Love is not mainly our pursuit of God. Love is God moving toward us. Love is God sending His Son. Love is heaven stepping into our mess because we could never climb our way out of it.
That is so important, because somewhere along the road, dear friends, we start drifting. We begin in grace, amazed that Jesus would save us at all. We come empty handed. We come broken. We come saying, “Lord, if You do not rescue me, I have no hope.” And then after a while, something odd happens. We start thinking maturity means contributing. We start acting like now that we are saved, maybe we need to help grace along a little.
But that is not the gospel.
Paul said in Colossians 2:6, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” How did you receive Him? By grace. By mercy. By simple trust. You did not arrive impressing God, and you will not continue by impressing Him now. The same way you came is the way you walk.
John will not let us turn love into religious performance. He does not say, “Herein is love, that you had a perfect prayer life.” He does not say, “Herein is love, that you finally became disciplined enough.” He says, “not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” That is the river everything else flows from.
You need to see this.
If I think God loves me because I am doing well, then when I fail, I will hide from Him. But if I know He loved me when I was still in my sin, then I will run to Him even on my worst day. That is why this matters so much. It is not just a doctrine to defend. It is a truth to live in.
The word propitiation means the price was fully paid, the wrath fully satisfied, the way fully opened. Jesus did not make salvation possible in a vague sense. He actually did what was needed to bring us to God. He did the whole thing.
And I like that, because it lets weary people breathe again.
Maybe you have been quietly trying to add to grace. Maybe not with your mouth, but in your heart. Maybe you have been thinking God stays close to you only when your devotions are strong, your thoughts are clean, your attitude is sweet, and your week is tidy. But John pulls us back to the center. Love began with God. Salvation began with God. Hope began with God. And because it began with Him, it is steadied by Him too.
Beloved, the Christian life is not graduating from grace. It is going deeper into it. It is waking up again and again to the stunning reality that the God you did not seek came seeking you, the God you could not reach came down to rescue you, and the Son you did not deserve became the propitiation for your sins.
That is love.