1969) My husband and I have been married almost 40 years. Because of this, if we’re in a crowd and I can’t see his face, if I see the back of his head or body, I can quickly identify him.  

This comes to mind when I read 1 John 4:16. Here, John said something a little confusing. He said, in part, So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. What’s confusing about this? It’s the words come to know. Why did John say this specific thing?  

As I explored deeper, I looked up the word in the original Greek. The word for come to know is ginóskó which translates to come to recognize. Putting this together with the phrase above, we get: So we have come to recognize the love that God has for us. Wow!  

This definition opens my eyes. It’s telling me I need to learn to recognize God’s love in things I may not have attributed it to. I recognize God’s love in giving me a good marriage. I recognize God’s love in providing the money we needed for a new generator. I recognize God loves me when I walked through a difficult circumstance still on my own two feet.  

I am learning to recognize God’s love. Do you recognize it?