“We love because he first loved us.”

Love can be absolutely exhausting. The kind of love that really makes a difference in this world can zap everything out of you.

Sometimes you just don’t feel like you have any more love to give. As a pastor, you’re constantly giving to others. Then you come home and think, “I just can’t face another need, another problem, or another heartache.” So you just shut down.

Or you need to show love to a particular person who is demanding, selfish, and never returns your love. And you just think to yourself, “I’m done. No more.”

While that’s perfectly natural and perfectly human, it’s not the standard of love God calls us to. The Bible says, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT). Love never gives up.

How can you have that kind of persistent love for another person? By getting refueled.

Have you ever been to an airshow and seen planes refuel in mid-air? It’s impressive to see how they hook up a tanker to a jet in flight to refuel. But can you imagine someone flying a jet saying, “I don’t need to refuel!” The jet would crash and burn. In a long distance flight, a jet has to refuel.

To give the kind of persistent love that God wants you to give, you have to refuel your love tank. Look around at society, and you’ll see that it’s littered with debris from relationships that have crashed and burned because people didn’t refuel their love.

How do you refuel your love tank? You start by letting God love you. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 NIV). 

Now that’s real fuel. That’s what keeps you going when you want to quit.