1 John 4:19 Tee

“We love because he first loved us.”⁣-1 John 4:19⁣⁣Because of the Lord’s great love for us, we are given the ability to obey the commands given to us in Christ to love him and love others. ⁣⁣“The apostle, having thus excited and enforced sacred love from the great pattern and motive of it [in chapter 3], the love that is and dwells in God himself, proceeds to recommend it further by other considerations; and he recommends it in both the branches of it, both as love to God, and love to our brother or Christian neighbour.⁣⁣His love is the incentive, the motive, and moral cause of ours. We cannot but love so good a God, who was first in the act and work of love, who loved us when we were both unloving and unlovely, who loved us at so great a rate, who has been seeking and soliciting our love at the expense of his Son's blood; and has condescended to beseech us to be reconciled unto him. Let heaven and earth stand amazed at such love! His love is the productive cause of ours:⁣⁣As love to