Thursday, October 18, 2012

God Loves Us Completely

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. -- 1 John 4:8

What does love mean to you? Yeah. It’s hard to define, isn’t it? We love ice cream. We love our families. We love football teams and the beach and all kinds of things.

Then we consider that God loves us. Completely. Totally. And we don’t really understand because it’s like no kind of love we’ve ever known. We’re accustomed to love with conditions and fickle emotions and broken hearts. It’s all we know and, yet, God offers us so much more.

The simple answer, the most obvious thing, is to remember that Jesus died for us. God sent His only Son to bear the burden of our sins so that through belief we might be reconciled with our Creator. We know that. But somehow knowing that doesn’t erase the fact that it seems so distant from our daily lives.

Perhaps that’s why we have such trouble believing those simple words: God loves us. Today. With an all-powerful love that covers us with His purpose and His protection.

God loves us enough to let us stumble and fall so that we might learn and grow. God loves us enough to carry us through illness and death, reaching out to us with hope and trust that one day He will dry all our tears and there will be no more sorrow in our lives.

But what about today, you ask. There is war and disease everywhere. Your life has likely been touched by cancer or heart disease. Perhaps you’ve suffered economically or known someone who has. Maybe someone you loved died in a car wreck. And so, you ask, how can God love us and let such awful things happen to those who love Him.

We live in a fallen world. It’s such a simple statement yet comes with meaning that transcends us all. We have free will to make bad choices -- and so do all those around us. Followers of Jesus and those who have rejected Him. Those who have never heard His name and those who claim to believe but don’t. All of us have free will and we do things, say things, that harm us and those around us.

But in the midst of it all God loves us. He doesn’t leave us here to suffer alone. He comforts us. He walks with us through the dark valleys, a constant reminder that one day the grief will end and we’ll all be restored to a life with Him. As He always intended us to be.

God loves us. We can’t do anything or say anything to make Him love us any less. Whether we love Him in return or reject Him, God still loves us. There is security in that, if we can ever bring ourselves to embrace it. God loves us and nothing and no one can ever, ever take us away from Him.

Friday, July 20, 2012

God Loves Us Warts and All

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. -- Romans 5:6-8

What are you trying to hide from God? Seriously. What do you think that God doesn’t see? What are you keeping to yourself in the hope that you never, ever have to go before God, confess and repent?

Well, I hate to burst your denial bubble, but God already knows. Yeah. He does. He knew before you did because He knew the decisions you’d make long before you made them.

He also knows the why. Even when we don’t understand our actions ourselves, God does. He sees it all. He understands it all. So what are you hiding for?

Oh, you’re afraid that God won’t love you because of your past? You think that because you can’t forgive yourself or because other people keep reminding you of your past, that God won’t let it go either? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

God knows every single thing we’ve ever done wrong. He know every mistake we’ve ever made, every nasty comment, every bad decision. Every thing. And He loves us anyway. He extends to us unconditional love. A love so perfect that we can’t begin to comprehend exactly what that means.

I’ll tell you another secret: God cares about the details of your life. Really. He does. Remember this is a God who has numbered the hairs on your head. He cares if your feelings got hurt. He cares if your bank account balance is low. He cares that a special young man asked you out on a date. He cares about it all.

And He wants to talk with you about it. He wants to laugh and cry with you. He wants to cheer you on and pick you up and dust you off when you fall. God wants to have a relationship with you. A real, loving relationship that encompasses all the details of your life.

Another wonderful thing about God: He always wants what is best for you. Always. There’s no underlying agenda. There’s no backstabbing. There’s nothing except pure love. God always knows what we most need and He’ll give it to us every time.

If we reach out and grab hold of His hand. If we accept the loving relationship He offers to us. If we believe, really believe, that He loves us right where we are.