It is God who initiates a loving relationship with us. “God loved us first,” John the Beloved says. It was God who loved us first not because He loved us in the past but because it is God who continues to love us right now.
It is God who forgives us first when we sin. It is God who reaches out to us and inspires us to be contrite and be repentant to change our ways. It is the nature of God to always take initiatives in loving, forgiveness and reconciliation.
That is not the case with us. As far as we are concerned when there is a conflict, the one who makes the first move is the weaker one. When there are problems, heartaches, or crises of relationships, the one who apologizes first is the guilty one. And that is why, so many relationships remain unhealed, unreconciled because we wait for others to make the first move.
This is the reality. Confronted with a strained relationship we do not take the initiative to patch things up lest we be laughed at, or thought to be the guilty party. But what is correct is the exact opposite of this. Those who make the first move and reconcile first – even if they have been offended; those who love first actually become the stronger party because they imitate God.
Let us remember right now the people who have offended us, whom we do not like to see, those who have hurt us, and the people who frustrated our dreams. If you are willing to be the first to reach out, you’re actually the stronger party.
THE FIRST IS THE STRONG
1 Jn 4:10
Jesus In My Heart
