“We love him, because he first loved us.”

We will never come to God in our natural, sinful state. Our hearts and minds are at enmity with God and we want nothing of His kind of love. Indeed, we do not understand it, for our minds are darkened in the sin we entertain and live by. Our desire for God has been compromised by our sin and so we do not chose Him. 

“… because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.”

Romans 8:7

Something fundamental and systemic has to happen to change that mindset and make us think of God and our position before His holy throne. How do we move from hating God to loving God with every part of our being; being devoted to Him in worship and adoration; giving over our lives to Him in His service. It seems an impossible situation, but God is the God of the impossible…

“Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26

In His purposes in salvation God works a miracle of grace in our mind and heart. He can change the most recalcitrant and make us willing and able to desire Him. No matter how far we have lived away from His holy commandment, he can turn us and make us willing to come Him and seek what he wants rather than our own selfish ways. 

“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.”

Isaiah 55:6-7

The Holy Spirit works in our hearts and softens our hearts towards God and causes us to feel the weight of our sin. We become convicted by our sin and seek relief from its guilt and shame. The only one who can deal with this is our Saviour Jesus. Only He is able to forgive our sin and take the burden away from us and give us relief. The Holy Spirit enlightens our mind to understand the gospel message and gives us the faith we need to believe in Jesus and trust in what He did for us on the cross. This is the way we walk to enter into the love of God.

God loves us first. What a glorious truth! Our redemption is not dependant on our love, but on the Lord of the Father in heaven. He has provided all things for His children and has set His heart on us from eternity past, that we might enter into the reality of His love and be able to love Him back. When His Spirit works in us, He gives us the deep desire to seek the Lord and be rid of our sin. God is ready and willing to accept us as we come to Him in repentance for what we have done. In His great love He forgives us and shows us His forgiving love. We see it demonstrated on the cross of Calvary and see there, the lengths our God was willing to go to save us. What amazing love for us! 

We love Him because He loves us… we must never lose sight of this glorious fact so that we will remain dependant on His love and not on our foolish pride.