Do you ever just sit and ponder how much God loves you?
At first it can be uncomfortable because your mind will tell you, “He can’t really love you. Look at all you’ve done. God loves people like the pastor, Franklin Graham, Mother Theresa but really, He just puts up with you. He loves you because He loves the world but really, it isn’t anything personal and specific to just you”.
Well, if you’ve ever heard those words or something like that, that’s a lie straight from the pit of hell!
God LOVES you. GOD loves you. God loves YOU! Yes, Jesus loves me – the Bible tells me so!!
As I sit here this morning, once again, soaking in God’s love I felt prompted to re-read one of my favorite chapters in Romans.
“Right With God
5 We have been made right with God because of our faith. So we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through our faith, Christ has brought us into that blessing of God’s grace that we now enjoy. And we are very happy because of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory. 3 And we are also happy with the troubles we have. Why are we happy with troubles? Because we know that these troubles make us more patient. 4 And this patience is proof that we are strong. And this proof gives us hope. 5 And this hope will never disappoint us. We know this because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit he gave us.
6 Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.
9 We have been made right with God by the blood sacrifice of Christ. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. 10 I mean that while we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us through his Son’s death. And the fact that we are now God’s friends makes it even more certain that he will save us through his Son’s life. 11 And not only will we be saved, but we also rejoice right now in what God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we are now God’s friends.” Romans 5:1-11 ERV
Right with God, peace with God, loved by God, friends with God. Soak that in! We were once His enemies but now we are His friends, by this God showed how much he loves us.
When I ponder how much the Father loves me I must also stop and consider how He wants me to love my enemies. He loves my enemies and He sees value in them because He created them the same as He did me. The same loving Christ that died for us, died for them.
Knowing God’s love for us will change our hearts to be more loving toward others.
I hope you have time to sit quietly after reading this. Sit quietly and hear our Father whisper in your heart, “I love you. You are my friend!”