God first loved when none loved

There are those who are harder to love than others. Some are so hard to love that it becomes instinctive to avoid them at all costs. The last thing anybody would ever want is to walk with someone who is hard to love on a daily basis. Yet when those who are so strongly against such a one get on their knees, they are reminded of how confusing it is for God to love any sinner, including themselves. Such a love is confusing because it is given to the undeserving. There is no earning this love, but it is graciously given by the One who beholds it. For if it was to be earned, who could achieve it? The love of God is shed abroad upon those who have gone astray, wondering about as they may. A love for God would not be present in this fallen world if it was solely up to man to first love God. Yet, some act as if the scripture says, "God loves us, because we first loved him" rather than "We love him, because he first loved us". The love of God has fallen upon this world to gather a people according to His purpose, certainly not from the purposes of men who suffer from depravity that whisks them from God. This doesn't go without saying that God used man's evil purposes to show what it truly means to have no greater love than this, to lie down one's life for another. One does not have to look any further than the cross to realize the greatest example of this from the God who first loved when none loved. Remember then, when love dwindles for others, approach the throne of grace to replenish it.