Wayne Weekly “Nineteen”

After what I’ll call a “time-out”, I thought I would give “Wayne Weekly” another go at it.

With the Covid-19 reference being so widely circulated, I thought I would turn our attention to another “19”.

1 John 4:19 is a well-known verse, and probably has been committed to memory by many believers:

“We love, because He first loved us.”

In the KJV of the Bible, the verse has “Him” inserted, so the verse reads, “We love Him, because He first loved us.”  I am guessing that is because of the context, and the manuscript the KJV was translated from.

Regardless, we do know that we love God…because He made the first move toward us with His divine love. And because God loves us and we love God, one of the proofs of our love for God is loving others.

This love is the “love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts…” (Romans 5:5) It is a love that is generated by the Holy Spirit in our lives as we walk with God and keep His commandments. I can attest to the fact that it is not based upon my “feelings” for someone. Though those feelings can come with that love as we act upon it. We know that love is expressed with action. We know that we can display God’s love within us by reaching out to others. By showing kindness. By helping to meet their needs, physical, emotional, and spiritual.

Not long ago I read in a good Christian book that most people are depressed because they are lonely. Think of that a moment. Loneliness, we’re told, is experienced by far more people than we generally realize. The cure for loneliness is companionship, friendship, an extension of ourselves into the lives of others.

During Covid-19, let the “19” be a reminder to all of us who name the name of Jesus as our Savior, that:

“We love, because He first loved us.”