God loved us when we were at our worst. He calls us to extend the same kind of love to others

3 min read

But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

As the month of love (February) comes to a close and as we enjoy a bonus Leap Day, what should we do with it? Here’s a suggestion: Find someone around you who is struggling today and love them.

I know, you may not be feeling it. You might feel that it’s all you can do to simply tolerate people right now, much less love them.

It’s a tall order, indeed.

But for those of us struggling to love others, especially the difficult others, it might help us to take a moment and consider how well we have been loved by God.

This is Different

You see, one of the most extraordinary things about God’s love is that he loves people even before they have the capacity to love him back. In Romans 5:6-8, Paul explains that God’s love is completely different from human love. We tend to love only the lovely or loveable, or those who can return it back to us.

But not so with God. We learn that God loved us when we had absolutely nothing to give him. When we were deformed in our sin and helpless to do anything about it, out of love, Jesus died in our place for our sins. You could call this pre-repentance love. It is an other-worldly kind of love that originated with God.

God did not sit back and wait until we turned things around before he started loving us. No, he loved us when we were still offenders of his majesty and holiness. Before we even had a spiritual pulse or an awareness of who he is, his love was on us. Before we were converted, before we became Christians, he loved us. Before his grace changed us, he loved us.

Now if that doesn’t make you leap, I don’t know what will.

Applying It

Here’s what this means for you and me today:

1. It means you never have to doubt whether God loves you. On a bad day, when you are not living up to your calling in Jesus, you can be assured that you are still loved by God. Why? Because he loved you before you repented in the first place. As someone once said, “There is nothing you could do to make God stop loving you because you never did anything to make him start.”
2. It means we have an example to follow. If we are going to love like God loves, it means we will extend to others the same pre-repentance love we have received. With the Lord as our example and inspiration, we can choose to love people before they turn things around, before they change their minds about God, about truth, about sin, and salvation. Rather than waiting until they become a little more loveable, we can choose to love them right where they are. This doesn’t necessarily mean we love their choices or their lifestyle. It just means that, like God, we love their soul whatever shape it may be in today.

Pre-repentance love is a remarkable thing. On this Leap Day, may God help us to love others as lavishly as we have been loved by him.

It’s a new day with God. Run with it.