Christ First Loved Us

In John 4, John teaches simply: “We love [Christ], because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). This week I had an experience that brought me to understand what John meant. There is someone close to me who has a great debt that didn’t know how to pay. He has immense potential and yet is not on the path that will lead him to realize that potential. There is nothing that I want more than for him to have the blessings of the gospel in his life. But more than that, I hope to see the great good in the world that can come about because of his efforts. He is one of the most generous people I know, and takes care of those he loves.

Thinking about this person, who I love, I gained an insight into how Christ might have felt when performing the atonement. On the one hand, he was making a great sacrifice – he took upon himself all of our sins without the guarantee that we would accept the blessings of it. On the other, he looks on us with perfect hope – a perfect vision of our potential. In other words, “he first loved us,” before we proved our faithfulness to him. He took upon himself suffering “how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, how hard to bear you know not” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15) because he believes that we will reach our fullest potential. If he was willing to bear all that because of what he saw that we could become, how much more should we strive to see that in ourselves and fulfill what he sees in us? That is how we love Him.

Seeing Christ’s atonement this way makes me believe that he sees more good in me than I can see in myself. I now understand what John meant when he said, “We love him, because he first loved us.” I have a testimony that each of us has good within us, and that the best way we can thank Christ for his sacrifice is by striving to realize our fullest potential. That is why Christ laid down his life for us. That is how we can show our love for Him. And by fulfilling our greatest potential, we can bring him joy.