Love

" We love Him because He first loved us." John 4:19 KJV

Love one another. From The Christian Clip Art Review.

     If I were to ask one of you why it is that you love your father and mother, you wouldn't be able to tell me at first. There are so very many reasons why you love them that it is hard to talk about it. The greatest reason why you love them is because they first loved you. When you were very small and couldn't care for yourself, they loved you and did everything for you. They watched around you by day and by night, and gave you the good things that you needed, and taught you to do right. So you love them because they first loved you.

       That is the reason we love Jesus Christ. Because He first loved us. He gave us not only every good thing that we have but also He gave Himself for us.

       Long ago in the city of Lynchburg there was an Orphans' Home, and there was a boy who lived there about whom I am going to tell you. This boy had only one leg, and he is one of the finest little heroes I ever heard of.

       Many years ago they had a fire in the Orphanage and its buildings were all burned. This one-legged boy was then about fourteen years old. In the second story of one of the buildings there were some little girls when the fire started. In the confusion of trying to save the other children these little ones were forgotten. It was not long before the entire building was in flames. Then this little lame boy remembered them. He made up his mind that he would save them if he could. He found an old ladder and, after a hard struggle, set it up against the building, and dragged himself up on the roof of the porch. He broke a window and went in and carried out, one by one, five little girls. He put them out on the roof and told them to stand there till he could get down the ladder. One of them went back into the building and they never saw her again. The boy slid down the ladder and stood on a little pile of rocks at the bottom, and told them to jump, one at a time, and he would catch them. Then he braced himself the best he could. You know it is easy to plant your feet and brace yourself when you have two legs to stand on. But this little fellow had but one, and when those children jumped, he broke their fall; but each time a child dropped down into his arms he was knocked down flat on the rocks, and when the last one had jumped, the back of his head was battered and bleeding, where he had fallen on the sharp stones. When they found him he was unconscious, but he had saved the little girls.

       Don't you think that those children, as they grow older, must love the memory of that young hero? They love him because he first loved them and was willing to risk his life for them.

       That is what Jesus did. He loved us and gave Himself for us. Satan came to destroy us, as the wolf comes to destroy the sheep. Jesus was the good shepherd and came to fight against Satan, and save us. But He lost His life. That is why we love Him, He loved us and gave Himself for us. S. N. Hutchinson

"Oh The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" 

sung by Audrey Assad