An excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning * that gave me much encouragement and I wanted to share:
“We love because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19) There is no light but that which proceeds from the sun; and there is no true love for Jesus in the heart but that which comes from the Lord Jesus Himself. From this overflowing fountain of the infinite love of God, all our love to God must spring. This truth is foundational, that we love Him for no other reason than because He first loved us. Our love for Him is the result of His love for us. When studying the works of God, anyone may respond with cold admiration, but the warmth of love can only be kindled in the heart by God’s Spirit. What a wonder that any of us, knowing what we’re like, should ever have been brought to love Jesus at all! How marvelous that when we had rebelled against Him, He should, by a display of such amazing love, seek to draw us back. We would never had a grain of love toward God unless it had been sown in us by the sweet seed of His love for us.
*- Spurgeon’s Morning by Morning published by Crossway books, revised and updated by Alistair Begg