“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16).

There is a saying that “you cannot give what you don’t have!” Let’s say you have a pot of tea. One cannot pretend to pour tea from an empty pot. You must make some tea first and then start pouring. At the same time once the tea gets finished and you need to pour some more and fill up empty cups, you need to fill the pot again. Perhaps this might mean making some tea again, so as to be able to fill the empty cups. You can’t give what you don’t have!

This saying applies to our lives in many ways. Sometimes we may wonder why we see acts of hate all around us. There are homes where children are abused and then we wonder why. Usually the answer is simple. The abuser cannot be expected to share love, which he too, has no experience of.

Or take the example oc a mother who abandons a baby to a trash can, eager to move on with her life. What is happening here is that the mother feeling unloved can’t extend love to this child of her own. You can’t give what you don’t have!

Likewise, in the same vein, Christians can’t share any love unless they are assured that God loves them, first! “We love because he first loved us” ( 1 John 4:19). It is only after knowing and experiencing God’s love, can we go out and love others unconditionally.

Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I choose to love because you loved me first, and may you fill me with your Holy Spirit to share your abundant love to a hurting world, this I pray in Jesus’s name.