The Love of God

From the first, I have ended these notes by pointing out that God loves you. For a note of encouragement, that has to rank pretty high, doesn’t it? Knowing that God loves me makes all the things I have to endure in this life a little easier to endure. The trick is remembering that He loves me. I want to use this space this week to remind you that He does love you.

Jesus told Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That is a pretty important fact in the Bible anyway, but when we start talking about encouragement, it has to rank at the top of the list.

There are a lot of people in this world that I love very much, but there is no one that I love enough to give the life of my child (or another loved one) for. Giving my own life would be easier, but God loved you enough to give His Only Begotten Son for you, so that you do not have to be lost.

Now, how do you respond to that kind of love? If your son or daughter gave himself or herself to die for someone else, you would not appreciate it very much if that person then acted like they did not care about the sacrifice, would you? There are sons and daughters of Americans dying right now to insure our freedom. Those moms and dads do not appreciate it when people say cruel things about them and do not appreciate their sacrifice. Imagine how our heavenly Father feels when we do not appreciate His sacrifice.

The apostle John wrote these words that we would do well to take to heart: By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:9-11). If God loved us, we ought to love one another. What a concept! And we ought to love God, too!! Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). And that, by the way, is how we may know that we are in Christ; by keeping the commandments of the Lord (1 John 2:3-5).

So, I hope it brings you some measure of comfort this week to know that God loves you; that He loved you enough to make a sacrifice you may not even be able to comprehend. He does, you know...love you that much. And I love you, too!