(Quoted from "A Love Worth Living" by Max Lucado, on Chapter One - The 7:47 Principle  *We love, because He first loved us.  I John 4:19 NASB, taken from "BOOK TALK" forum.)

... Read again verse 47 of chapter 7:  "A person who is forgiven little shows only little love."  Just like the jumbo jet, the 7:47 Principle has wide wings.  Just like the aircraft, this truth can lift you to another level.  Read it one more time.  "A person who is forgiven little shows only little love."  In other words, we can't give what we've never received.  If we've never received love, how can we love others?
    But, oh, how we try!  As if we can conjure up love by the sheer force of will.  As if there is within us a distillery of affection that lacks only a piece of wood or a hotter fire.  We poke it and stroke it with resolve.  What's our typical strategy for treating a troubles relationship?  Try harder.
    "My spouse need my forgiveness?  I don't know how, but I'm going to give it."
    "I don't care how much it hurts, I'm going to be nice to that bum."
    "I'm supposed to love my neighbor?  Okay.  By golly, I will."
    So we try.  Teeth clinched.  Jaw firm.  We're going to love if it kills us!  And it may do just that.
    Could it be we are missing a step?  could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward him?  Could it be that the secret to loving  is receiving?  You give love by first receiving it.  "We love, becuase he first love use" (i John 4:19 NASB).
    Long to be more loving?  Begin by accepting your place as a dearly loved child.  "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us" (Eph. 5:1-2 NIV).
    Want to learn to forgive?  Then consider how you've been forgiven.  "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Eph. 4:32 NIV).
    Finding it hard to put others first?  Think of the way Christ put you first.  "Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God" (Phil. 2:6 NLT).
    Need more patience?  Drink from the patience of God (2 Pet. 3:9).  Is generosity an elusive virtue?  Then consider how generous God has been with you (Rom. 5:8).  Having trouble putting up with ungrateful relatives or cranky neighbors?  God puts up with you when you act the same.  "He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked"  (Luke 6:35 NIV).
    Can't we love like this?
    Not without God's help we can't.  Oh, we may succeed for a time.  We... may open a door.  But our relationships need more than a social gesture.  Soem of our spouses need a foot washing.  A few of our friends need a flood of tears.  Our children need to be covered in the oil of our love.
    But if we haven't received these things ourselves, how can we give them to others?  Apart from God, "the heart is deceitful above all things"  (Jer. 17:9 NIV).  A marriage-saving love is not within us.  A friendship-preserving devotion cannot be found in our hearts.  We need help from an outside source.  A transfusion.  Would we love as God loves?  Then we start be receiving God's love.  ~ Max Lucado