We’ve reached the final fruit in our Living Under the Influence journey: love . But before we talk about how well we love other people, we need to begin where love begins. God loved first.

Throughout this series we’ve repeatedly said, God gets to define the terms. That’s especially important with love because we use that word for almost everything. We love our family, a great meal, or a song and, of course, we love Jesus. Often our culture defines love by feelings, attraction, agreement, or what someone does for us, but God defines it differently.

John doesn’t simply say that God loves . He says, “God is love.” Romans 5:8 says God demonstrated His love toward us “while we were still sinners.” We tend to operate with reciprocal love: I love you because… Because you’re good to me, because you love me back, or you make me happy. There’s nothing wrong with those feelings, but that kind of love can become fragile because it’s dependent on the because . God’s love operates differently.

John 3:16 says God loved, so He gave . Romans 5 says God loved, so Christ died for us . First John says God loved, so He sent His Son . God doesn’t simply give us a definition of love, He gives us a demonstration. And that’s incredibly important because the fruit of love doesn’t begin with trying harder to love difficult people. It begins by receiving and believing the love God already has for us. John says, “We have known and believed the love that God has for us.”

Maybe knowing isn’t always the problem. Maybe believing is.

Do I really believe God loves me when I’ve failed? When I’m struggling or if I feel I haven’t performed well enough? Because the more securely I receive His love, the more freely I can give His love. We love because He loved first.