God Loves Us First, We Love Him Last
In the blockbuster movie Forest Gump, there’s a beautiful picture of God's love. It’s seen in the relationship between Forest and Jenny. From childhood, Forest loves Jenny. But Jenny is too enamored by worldly things and looks past Forest in her search for fulfillment. Jenny strikes out in search of fame and success but finds disappointment and heartache instead. All the while, Forest waits for her to come home to him.
Forest loved Jenny first, before everything else. But Jenny failed to appreciate his devotion until the very end of her life. Although Forest picked Jenny first, she picked him last.
Fortunately, Forest's love for Jenny was so selfless that he did not resent her for doing so.
In the same way, our first choice in life isn’t God. Enamored by the world, we look past Him to all of the things that we are sure will bring us lasting happiness.
But while we're doing all of that, God waits patiently for us. We pursue everything that life has to offer before we were willing to look to the One who gave us life. And even though He gave His life for us, we hold our life back from Him.
But after the idols we preferred fail us, God is still there, patiently waiting and willing to be picked last.
And that's what we do. At the end of ourselves, and despite ourselves, we reluctantly turn to the One who loved us from the beginning.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10, NIV).
"But God has shown us how much he loves us--it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:8, GNT).
What If God Canceled Us?
IF GOD CHAMPIONED CANCEL CULTURE…
- The Samaritan woman stayed washed up.
- The Prodigal Son is stuck in the pig pen.
- Zaccheus is still up a tree.
- Peter is still casting nets, not using His keys and feeding His sheep.
- James and John, the sons of thunder, are all wet.
- Saul of Tarsus kept holding coats and chasing down Christians.
- Thomas drowned in his doubt.
- The thief on the cross is hung out to dry.
- John Mark might as well have stayed AWOL.
- Hebrews 11, what with Noah (the drunk), Abraham (the liar), Moses (the murderer), Rahab (the harlot), etc., is never written.
- At least five of the seven churches of Asia are in the dark.
- All humanity is hopeless (Rom. 3:23).
- He is neither faithful nor just (1 John 1:9).
- He never would have died on the cross (1 Tim. 2:6).
That is not to say that God “winks” at ignorance (Acts 17:30), indulges willful sin (Rom. 6:1-2; Heb. 10:26ff), or encourages walking in darkness (1 John 1:6ff). But, God is the God of the second (third, fourth, etc.) chance. He is perfectly patient (2 Pet. 3:9) and fully forgiving (Heb. 7:25).
Our world needs the message of redemption now more than ever!
A Picture of Pure Love
Have you ever watched a child when she receives a brand new puppy? I don't know who's happier, the puppy or the child. There is a mutual affection that has a purity and a simplicity to it, even though the relationship remains to be developed.
It's similar to when a person begins a relationship with our loving God. It's thrilling and all-encompassing. It's the beginning of a wonderful journey, one in which the love never ends and the relationship never stops growing and maturing.
"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).