RECEIVE THE LOVE FIRST

1 JOHN 3:1 (ESV)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

Everything starts here.

Not with what you do, not with how you perform, not with how well you live, but with what God has already given. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us” shows that this is not something you are trying to earn, it is something you are meant to receive.

And not just receive lightly, but actually see it, recognise it, and allow it to shape how you understand yourself.

Because if you do not receive that love, you will build your identity somewhere else. You will look to your past, your struggles, your failures, or even your efforts, and you will begin to define yourself by those things instead of by what God has already said.

But this Scripture does not leave it open, it makes it clear, “that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Not becoming, not working towards, not hoping to be, but already established.

The issue is not whether God has given the love, the issue is whether you are living from it.

Because you can know this verse, agree with it, and still not experience it.

That is where faith comes in. Because there are times you will not feel it the way you expect, you will not see it the way you want, but HEBREWS 11:1 (ESV) — “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” means you choose to stand on what God has said, even when your feelings are not lining up.

And as you do that, something begins to open up.

Because the love of God is not something shallow that you grasp in a moment, it is something deep that you grow into. That is why EPHESIANS 3:18–19 (ESV) speaks of “the breadth and length and height and depth… the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge”, showing that this is not just something you understand, it is something you experience over time.

But you cannot experience what you keep at a distance.

If you hold back, question it constantly, or measure it against your own standard, you will never fully step into it.

Receiving God’s love requires you to let go of earning it.

It requires you to accept that He has already decided how He sees you.

And when that becomes real, it changes everything.

Because you no longer live trying to prove your worth, you live from a place where your worth has already been established.

This brings it to one clear place, because before you try to give love, before you try to live it out, before you try to reflect God to others, you have to receive what He has already given to you.

Because you cannot give what you have not received.

And when you truly begin to receive the love of God, not just in your head but in your life, it will not stay contained, it will begin to shape how you think, how you respond, and how you live, because the love that defines you will become the love that flows through you, and what once felt distant will become something real, steady, and active in every part of your life.