God loves you.
I’m not really sure how else to say it.
There is not an easier way I can think of to put in front of you the idea that the Creator of the universe cares for you than those three simple words.
Understanding His Love
His love is deep. His love is wide. His love crosses over every boundary. He loves with a love that lasts forever. His love eliminates everything we’ve ever done wrong. His love is unconditional. His love is great. His love is big enough to cover the entire world yet small enough to impact your heart right where you are.
His love is probably the most important thing I will ever write about. There isn’t a topic more pressing, more interesting, or more in need at any time in our lives than His love for us.
It’s His love for us that sent Jesus to the cross. A love so great that one of the Trinity stepped out of Heaven (which I imagine to be a pretty amazing place) to become exactly like us. He left so that he could experience what we experience, feel what we feel, and then die as the final sacrifice for the sins of everyone in the world … ever.
It took love for God to send Jesus to this earth. It took love for Jesus to die for a people that hated him - a people (that’s us, by the way) that are still hostile toward him. I believe it’s God’s love that keeps Him from just shutting this whole thing down and starting over again.
His love isn’t a respecter of persons either. He doesn’t just love the people who have been pretty good in their lives and haven’t really done anything wrong. He loves everyone regardless of what they’ve done. There is no such thing as “I’ve done too much for God to love me.” There is no difference in the mind of God between the person who has only ever said a swear word once and the murderer. He created both of them. They are both His children and He loves them equally. You don’t love one of your kids more than the other just because one does something worse than the other one do you? You still love them both equally. It’s the same with God. He loves us all no matter what we’ve done.
His love isn’t a one time thing either. He didn’t just love us when He created us. His love didn’t stop when Jesus died on the cross. His love is a love that will last for eternity. It will never end. He loved the people that came before us, He loves us today, and He will love the people that come into this world after us.
An Invitation to Love
So I invite you in. No matter what you’ve done. No matter who you are or where you live. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what color or race you are, or where you come from.
In Romans 10:9, the Bible tells us the only thing that matters:
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That’s it. It doesn’t say you have to be perfect. It doesn’t say you have to have your act together. It doesn’t say anything about never having done anything wrong in your life.
All it says is that you say out loud (“declaring” is saying something out loud) that Jesus is going to be the Lord of your life and that you believe in your heart that Jesus died for you and came back to life 3 days later. Do that, really mean it and believe it, and you will be saved.
Saved?
What does that even mean?
Does that mean that everything from that point forward will be perfect for you? Nope. You’re probably still going to experience some failures and setbacks. You most likely still won’t win the lottery. It doesn’t mean that your neighborhood will get better overnight, that you’ll get the job or the girl, or that you won’t ever do anything wrong ever again.
What it does mean is that you have a relationship with the Creator of the universe that rescues you from an eternity in Hell. You are now an heir of the King. You have the God of glory on your side. And at the end of days, Jesus will say “I know you. Well done.”
Understanding His Love (Reprise)
God loves us with a love that never runs out. It’s there in the morning when we wake up. It’s there in the middle of the day when we’re struggling at work. It’s there in the evening when we’re handling kids and ball games and ballet and what seems like all the things. It’s even there at night while we’re sleeping.
Through it all, in everything and during every situation, no matter your circumstances, just remember:
God loves you.