June 9th, 2025

“We love because he first loved us.”

Imagine you are attending school on a regular Tuesday afternoon. You’re in the middle of science class but need to use the washroom, so your teacher excuses you from class to use the facilities. Along the way, a firefighter rushes past you. He informs you that there is a fire in the direction you're headed, which is slowly engulfing the school. He asks for your help in informing students of the threat and leading them in exiting the premises in the opposite direction of the fire. If you were in this situation, what would you do? Inform other students and faculty so all can rush to safety? Or rush out of the school without informing anyone? Odds are, you’d likely take the time to inform those still in the school of the fire to help get them to safety because you understand that without your voice, many lives are at stake, and you care about the lives of people in your school. Similar reasons from this scenario, and more, motivate our evangelism, as evidenced in the verse of our devotion today.

1 John 4:19 is one of many powerful statements in a compelling case that the authour is making to his audience. In the face of false teaching and false believers, the authour in 1 John attempts to communicate qualities of an authentic Christian that onlookers can identify, one of these qualities being love for fellow believers. Amidst the author’s description of the love that should be found in a believer, he makes a profound statement about true love, which is Christian love, and how it works.

“We love because he first loved us.”

Oftentimes, when we think of evangelism, we are immediately filled with angst and dread. Especially in our individualized, “my truth, your truth” culture in Canada, we feel a lot of anxiety about sharing the Gospel with others, due to fear of rejection, persecution, or looking dumb because we don’t have answers for the questions people may ask us. However, although many of these feelings are entirely understandable and relatable, we must never lose sight of what the heart of evangelism is: an overflow of God’s love. Evangelism is an overflow of God’s love in two senses. First, we evangelize because God first evangelized us by coming down in human form, stepping into our humanity, experiencing our struggles, declaring the hope found in His life, and eventually dying for our sins. In gratitude for the love displayed to us, we share what he has done for others. Secondly, evangelism is an overflow of God’s love, because we don’t only evangelize out of gratitude; we evangelize because God's love extends to the entire world. When we evangelize, we become vessels for God’s love to his creation. We, like a student in a school burning down, know the danger others face, and thus share the hope of salvation so that none should perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The Bible often describes unbelievers as children of darkness (1 Thess 5:5), those whose minds and hearts are blinded to the truth, and are mindlessly walking their lives into Hell. Our Lord has given us the mission to bring them the light that opens their eyes! If you are afraid or hesitant to evangelize, remember that it is by His love that we are compelled to share the greatest love in the gift of the Good News.

Challenge For This Week

Spend every day this week praying this simple prayer

“Lord, give me a heart that loves people like yours

Help me to see others the way you see them

Let your perfect love cast out my fears

That I might be able to bring others the Good News."

Amen