GENESIS 22:1-2
FIRST MENTION OF LOVE IN GOD'S WORD
Abraham fiercely loved his son Isaac, probably more than his surrogate Ishmael. This love was when God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice.
The first love was a shadow of God our Father offering up His only Son, our Messiah, tendered up by God. It was the first real love in the universe.
LOVE COMES FROM ABOVE
All love comes from the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we unite in that love. God's love is the inclusion of sacrifice.
Do we love when we feel like it and don't? Abraham loved his son Isaac and his God, that is why he obeyed God, and that is why God did not take Isaac's life!
SACRIFICIAL LOVE
In friendships, dating, or marriage, and even in the unlovable, it is a sacrifice to love. Choosing to love when it hurts that's real love, the way God loved us by sacrificing His only Son, Jesus.
The highest, most genuine love of God is sacrifice. The love He gave us and gave us at Calvary was God's sacrificed love for us, so this love and the power of it is that of the sacrifice.
The first love is sacrifice and atonement. So you see, our love for Him comes from His loving us first.
We love him because he first loved us.
1 JOHN 4:19
JUST FOR TODAY
Regardless, choose to love someone you don't particularly want to love or select an unlovely person!
BELOW:
SONG: If That Isn't Love
SUNG BY: The Isaacs