We Love Him, Because He First Loved Us (April 7, 2023)

 My 10th grade son wrote this for his seminary devotional & I loved it. I am sharing his words here❤️

“We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19) I love this verse, it’s short, but what it teaches is amazing. God has always loved us & always will.

This makes me think of a quote by Pres. Monson, “Your Heavenly Father loves you-each of you… That love never changes… It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve [it]. It is simply always there.”

I love this quote. God loves us no matter what. He loves us beyond measure & more than we can comprehend.

Everything God does is motivated out of love. We are here because he loves us. We have the church, prophets, scriptures, & commandments all because he loves us.

This week, the holy week has the greatest manifestation of his love, where Jesus did what no one else could do in the Garden of Gethsemane. He experienced all the pain of the world, he bled from every pore, he did the hardest thing that has ever been done. I can’t imagine what that would be like. But he hasn’t just experienced all of our pain, he has overcome it. He can help us overcome it too.

He did it for me, he did it for you, he did it for everyone even though he knew so many wouldn’t even follow him. He did it because he loves us so much. Jesus Christ is the answer to everything & his atonement can help us.

Earlier we talked about Jesus walking on the water. When Peter was focused on Christ he was able to walk on the water too. But the wind & the craziness around him scared him & distracted him. He began to sink. Satan delights in this, & does everything he can to pull us down. Sometimes when this happens we feel hopeless. This is what he wants us to think. He wants us to think we aren’t loved & that there is nothing we can do. When we are sinking we need to call out to the Savior, just as Peter did. Immediately Jesus pulled him out of the water & immediately he will rescue us too. We have to remember that Christ’s hand is always stretched out, ready to help us & pull us out of the depths. He is always there for us because he loves us so much.