Be the First to Love

Call To Prayer 

Title: Be the First to Love 

By: Njuacha Hubert 

Date: 11.05.2024 

17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 1 John 4: 17 

God is love and He demonstrated this love by sending His only son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross as an atonement for our sins so that if we accept this sacrifice, we have eternal life (John 3: 16). Before returning to the father, Jesus gave us a new commandment. He said “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”. This is our primary mission as believers and cannot be overemphasized.  

There is an expression of greed we have when we are walking according to flesh. That is expecting love before we give love. However, Jesus already pointed out this kind of ordinary love (business as usual). He said “If you are kind only to your friends,[s] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.”. So, our challenge is to love all, even our enemies. This means many times being the first of love. By so doing we are demonstrating that the spirit of Jesus is in us. Because He loved us first.  

Practically this means you can be sitting and feeling like none of your friends have called you for a long time and instead of yielding to the devil’s temptation to start judging others for abandoning you why don’t you be the first to call someone and check on them.

Being the first to love means you don’t live expecting to be loved but rather seeking to love because you are born of God and God is love (1 John 4: 7). You go on loving because love is your nature. By loving the undeserving, we can win them over to Christ. 

We all need love and desire to be loved but that love is richly and first and foremostly available from God. We must always open hearts to receive God’s love which He demonstrated on the cross and which He shows to us every day. Rest in His love in prayers, thanksgiving and praise. Also, Jesus taught us a secret that as we seek to love we will find more joy (Acts 20:35) and love will come back to you a hundred-fold (Luke 6:38). 

Prayer Point 

Let’s thank God for the word today. Let’s pray for the grace to always remember the Lord’s command to love even our enemies.