DOES GOD LOVE ME?

DOES GOD LOVE ME?

By: Jack Guyler

This is a question that nearly every person ponders at some point in their life and it is one of the most important questions we can ever ask. The answer is even more important for the purpose and meaning of our lives. Before we help to answer this question, let’s look at a few other questions.

• WHERE DOES LOVE COME FROM?

According to the New Testament, which is the primary source we have about God, John tells us in his first letter that “God is love.” Many times we have been told that God is harsh, angry and vengeful. God is portrayed by some religious people as “a god who is out to get you.” When we hear these things enough and they get stuck in our brain, we become fearful of God and see Him as a God of wrath rather than a God of love. But the truth according to the New Testament writers is that God is love.

John also says in his first letter that “This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us…” In other words, the source of love – which is without doubt the most powerful emotion we can feel, is God. Love was originated by God. Any love we have for others, for ourselves or for God, first started with God when He designed the universe.

• WHAT IS LOVE?

Love is the primary theme of most music, movies and books. People talk about love, being love-sick, heart broken, love struck, in love and disappointed in love. Many say, “love is what makes the world go around.” People are in search of love in all types of ways and places. We often get mixed messages about what real love is from our culture. Sometimes we totally get the wrong messages about what love is and confuse it for things like sex, manipulation or abuse. To find what real love is, you need to look to how the original source of love defines it. The most succinct definition of love can be found in 1 Corinthians 13. Paul was writing to a group of people in Corinth who were confused about how to best live for God and with each other. Paul directs them to understand what real love is in this chapter (it is often referred to as the “love chapter” and read at many weddings). I would invite you to read and meditate on this very short chapter of what love really is.

• GOD’S LOVE

John writes in 1 John 4:10, “This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In other words, God’s love is more than words – it is action! It was God giving His Son, Jesus, to die for all people, so that sin could be forgiven and that we could have redemption. In other words, the love of God is sacrifice. God has come into our world when He didn’t have to, rescued us, and did it by giving His own life up for us. This should help us understand God’s love and give us greater assurance that He really loves us. An angry God would not do this for us; only a God of love would.

• DOES GOD LOVE ME?

I hope you can see from the above questions and answers that God does indeed love you. It isn’t about how loveable we are – but that God is love. My family has rescued many pets. Some were dirty, flea infested, wounded, scared, or had diseases. They weren’t pretty to look at when we first got them. They had behavioral issues due to their past. But because of love, we brought them home anyway and then helped turn them into beautiful animals – the animals that God created them to be.

God does the same for us. He tells us we can always come to Him, no matter what we have done. There may be consequences for our actions, but He will help us through them. He won’t always rescue us from our problems, but He will go through them with us. Sometimes storms and crisis emerge in our lives and God allows us to endure them, but never without His presence and Spirit because He deeply loves us.

Because of His love, He blesses us with gifts, resources, wisdom, opportunities and other people to enrich our lives. These are all signs that He loves us and has not abandoned us. And perhaps most importantly, He receives us unto Himself no matter what we have done, because His greatest desire, motivated by love, is to redeem our lives and have an eternal relationship with us!