“You want to compete with His affection before you have understood it; that is your mistake. You are like a child who wants to help his mother before allowing himself to be trained by her. You are like St. Peter; he wanted to wash his Master’s feet but refused to allow his Master to wash his feet.” (Abbé Henri de Tourville. Letters of Direction. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 1939, 2001, p. 75.)
The good Abbé suggests that we often make the same mistake Peter made when he refused Jesus’ offer to serve (and love) him by washing his feet. If it is true that we love because He first loved us, then we cannot love Him first. We will always be responding to His initiative.
All of the hunger of my heart are gathered up and satisfied ultimately in God. He invites me to find in and from Him the love and belonging for which I long. What do the scriptures say to remind me that I am wanted, even desired by God? How is He communicating that what I have sought in the false friend of sin He is lovingly offering me?
Ephesians 1:4b-6 (TNIV), “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
In love, God Himself decided beforehand to adopt me as His son through the life and work of Jesus Christ. He chose to adopt me because it pleased him and it was what He wanted. I could never have deserved or earned such a gift, but that’s usually the point with gifts.
How’s your own confidence in the love God has for you? Are there ways that you’ve been trying to love God first? Take a moment offer Him thanks that He always wins when it comes to loving first!
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