Recently, as I was reading through Isaiah 43, I had a verse stick out to me. 

Isaiah 43:4 ,”Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you. nations in exchange for your life.”

What really stood out to me were the words “because I love you..” In school, we had always been told not to start a sentence with the word “because”, and typically the phrase using the word “because” comes at the end of the sentence. However, having the word “because” in the beginning of the sentence changes a lot of the meaning. Intrigued by this interesting grammar, I set out to find all the places in the bible where the phrase “because I love you”came at the beginning of the sentence. Where the reason came before the action. I was surprised by what I found. The verses I found are listed at the end of this blog.

To further explain my point, I am going to use the verse Ephesians 2:4-5, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -it is by grace you have been saved”    

To sum up: 

“Because of His great love for us, we have been made alive with Christ” 

The phrase containing “because” is at the beginning of the sentence!  Think about it this way. It could be said as 

“We have been made alive with Christ, because He has great love for us”

It sounds similar. Very similar. But the subtle difference in the swap of phrases, I believe changes the meaning and the sound and the purpose of the verse. Say the two versions of this verse out loud a few times and see how the verse changes.

Let me give another example:

John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 

This verse uses the word “for”, which in this case, serves the same purpose as the word “because”. 

Yet again, God put His reason before His actions. 

Because He loves us, He gave us eternal life. 

Because He loves us, we have been made alive in Christ.

With God, His love comes first!

These verses are written and translated the way they are for a reason. In these verses, God shows that His love is the reason for whatever is to follow.

What would it look like then to live our lives with our reasons before our actions? 

What would it look like to go out with the mentality of “Because my God loves you, and because I will love you, I will serve you” ?

1 Thessalonians 2:8 shows this idea in action. Paul is writing to a church in Thessalonica that he helped establish. He says, “Because we loved you so much we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but out lives as well.”

Go love others. Go share the heart of Christ with others. But remember your reason. Remember that because God first loved us so much, He sent His son to die. Remember that because God loved us so greatly, He gave us a chance at eternal life! Remember your “because” as you go and love others.

“We love because Christ first loved us” (1 John 3:19)

Verses:
Psalm 91:14.   “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”
2 Chronicles 9:8.   Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness.”
Ephesians 2:4-5.   But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Deuteronomy 4:37.   Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,
Deuteronomy 7:8.   But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
2 Samuel 12:25.   because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
1 Thessalonians 2:8.   Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
Psalm 63:3.   Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

Related blogs:

Leave a comment