God's love for us did not begin with us. Before we ever reached out to Him, He loved us first, and He proved it by sending Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

God loved us before we ever loved Him, and that prior love is not just a theological fact — it is the source of our ability to love at all. When we truly experience what God has done for us in Jesus, we are changed. We become people who love, because love is what God is, and He is transforming us to be like Himself.

We cannot love both God and the world. John makes this plain in 1 John 2 — not as a harsh command delivered from a distance, but as a protection. God loves us the most. Everything the world offers is passing away. The only thing worth giving our whole hearts to is Jesus, and John pleads with his readers to remain in Him.

Jesus doesn't just teach us to ask God for forgiveness. He ties that request to how we are forgiving others — and He means it. The parable of the unforgiving servant, the Lord's Prayer, and Paul's letters all say the same thing: those who have been forgiven by God become people who forgive. Here's what that looks like and why it matters.

When Jesus teaches His people to pray "give us today the food we need," He reveals something most of us get backwards: God doesn't just tolerate our asking for help. He wants it. Daily. The point of asking is not that God doesn't already know what we need — He does. The point is the relationship that asking builds.