In this is love!

   In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10

   It is preached so clearly to us here, both what love is, and what it is not.
   Listen! - You are not a Christian because you loved God. - Nor because you love Him now, and nor because you have loved Him more than some others. - Those who are not Christians for example.
   Peter got exactly that question from his resurrected Saviour, He whom he so exceedingly had deceived: «Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?» (John 21:15).
   That was exactly what Peter had declared so boldly, before the trial came to him: «Even though all may fall away, yet I will not!» (Mark. 14:29).
   By His question, Jesus wanted to bring Peter in on solid ground, the one that stands despite any storm, the blessed ground to live our lives on, the ground that the apostle John explains for us in the present text, that the whole thing does not depend on our love for God - no, not at any of our own at all - but solely on this, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins!
   When Jesus spoked with Peter after the resurrection, He owned a knowledge to impart him. This had not happen completely yet. This fact, that Peter stood there without a stain and blemish before God, perfectly clean, in the midst of his need! His sin was atoned for - and that as a result og Gods love!
   Listen to that to day, and go out in your everyday life with that truth in mind: «In this is love, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.»

E.K.

Holy Bible New American Standard Version
Translator: E.K.