Because He First..

Because He First Loved.

Because He First Forgave.

Because He First Shined.

Im reading this eBook by John Piper called "Exposing The Dark Work of Abortion", and i've only read the intro, but this one thing stuck out to me, which i think, like everything else i've been writing about, is a great reminder.

We follow Christ and we do what we do because he did it first.

To sum up what he wrote, he went through 4 passages:

IT DOES NOT SAY: "We dont forgive because then we will earn forgiveness from Christ." (Eph 4:32)

- we forgive because we have already been forgiven.

IT DOES NOT SAY: "We dont imitate Christ to then be adopted." (Eph 5:1)

- the verse says as LOVED CHILDREN, we dont need to do something to be his child because we already are.

IT DOES NOT SAY: Walk in love so that Christ will start loving us and give himself up for us."(Eph 5:2)

- Its Christ loved us and gave himself for us, and THAT is why we walk in love.

IT DOES NOT SAY: Be light of the world so that you can become children of light" (Eph 5:8)

- we are already children of light, so continue to radiate his love and life.

"Forgive-out of your forgiveness. Love-out of your being loved. Shine-with the light that Christ is in you." - John Piper

verse of the day: 1 John 4:19

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.