It seems that true devotion to God is not attainable without a personal awareness of God’s love. I must understand that God loves me. Please notice Paul’s use of the personal pronouns I and me in 1 Timothy 1:12-17: “I thank Christ Jesus...I was formerly a blasphemer...but I obtained mercy...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief...I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show all longsuffering.” Paul was aware of his own sinfulness and unworthiness. This awareness served to magnify his conception of God’s love and mercy.
Every child of God needs to reflect on the unconditional nature of God’s love. 1 John 4:9-10 tells us, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 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.”
We did not, nor can we ever, earn divine love. God’s gift to sinners is His Son, Jesus Christ. God greatly desires to save those who are sinking in sin. Jesus was, and is, the only way for God’s desire to be accomplished. God put Jesus on the cross for you and me. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Let us be devoted in our love for God. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
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