The true Christian life takes its rise and is sustained in the recognition of a fundamental fact. John states it thus: “We know and have believed the love which God hath in us.” (1 John 4:16). From this springs all else. Upon this rests all else. And it is the good fight of faith against all adverse appearances, and against all the contradictions of Satan, steadfast unto the end. Thence springs our love. “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). On it rests our love for the children of God. “Herein is love, not that we loved God” –as though we aroused His love toward us, or gave Him ground and reason thereto—“but that He loved us” –that is, He took the first step in the matter, and to such an extent that He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Then the sequel: “Beloved, if God so loved us we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).                                                                                                                

 

                                                   Reprinted from Word and Work, 1916