God Loves You
by John S. Oliver
No matter where you are in life, God loves you, just as you are … right now … no exceptions.
No matter of what your past memories and pains accuse you … God loves you today … all day.
He knows about each of your feelings and all of your reasoning amidst His unconditional love for you.
No matter how bleak the future may seem, God loves you, His unconditional love will shine on you.
According to the Bible, it is an absolute fact that God loves you personally and all the time.
This Bible-based truth can be a source of comfort, strength and faith no matter the circumstances.
External challenges and internal struggles can cast shadows on simple liberating truths.
Yet knowing the truth will set you free and reaching out by faith for biblical truth, pleases God.
When you feel tossed around by the storms of life, just let your theology inform your faith.
Bring the lessons of the past into the present so that you will face the future with hope in God.
Every single truth you once knew about God or Jesus before is just as true today and tomorrow.
Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever … for He is the eternal unchanging Rock.
It is the very nature of God to love people and He can never violate His divine nature.
Your thoughts, words, deeds, feelings and circumstances can never change the essence of God.
The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust – anyone can see that the rain falls all over the place.
Likewise the love of God extends universally to all humans – the good, the bad and the ugly.
The greatest challenge for those who follow Jesus is to love everyone gracefully like God does.
Consider what you know about the sun at the center of our solar system.
There is never one moment when the sun is not shining, period.
It is not possible for the sun to stop giving light generously in all directions.
It may seem that the sun rises and sets, but that is just due to our limited perspective.
On a cloudy day or when a storm is raging, the sun did not stop shining for one second.
You can draw the parallel with the love of God, He loves you 24x7 due to His nature.
Your condition spiritually, mentally, emotionally and any other way cannot stop His love.
The largest and friendliest navigation buoy in the ocean of life is labeled - God Loves You.
The love of God motivates Him to unselfishly extend the Good News to all who have ears to hear.
The love of God motivates Him to unselfishly extend His grace and mercy to His children daily.
The grandest motivation in the universe is the love of God pouring continually from His great heart.
The Bible says that God the Father loves much better than any parent ever did … just ponder that.
Recall paintings of Jesus as the Good Shepherd; inside those warm and fuzzy images see God loving you.
A small child, new believer and a wounded soul can draw close to God when perceived in that way.
You too can come to the Good Shepherd today as His sheep and experience His gracious love.
The Son of God was on the earth for a brief lifetime before He returned to Heaven.
But before He departed He gave the promise of the Holy Spirit to abide in the believers.
It was a loving deed to send the one He called another Comforter.
Calling Him ‘another’ would imply Jesus is a comforter too.
Consider the very best comfort that has been given by a mother, grandmother or nurse.
No matter how good any human can comfort, God can comfort much better.
The comfort that God gives freely is a further demonstration that God loves you personally.
The comfort that God provides gets closer to the heart than the closest friend, spouse or parent.
Jesus Christ told his disciples that they could call him “Friend”, and that is an amazing statement.
The Son of God, who is the second person of the Trinity, said here is a very close way to relate with Me.
Note that a true friend will listen to all your thoughts and feelings without turning against you.
A real friend will express love by using an abundance of acceptance, appreciation and respect.
An authentic friend will know how and when to communicate the truth in love for your improvement.
A genuine friend is faithful and loyal to the end – never leaving nor forsaking you.
The best of friends sticks by your side during thick and thin – especially when no one else does.
When a man falls in love with a woman and they get engaged, he gives her gifts as a token of his love.
Each gift is a tangible expression of his affection, appreciation and attachment.
The man seeks to demonstrate his feelings in small and large ways.
The invisible emotions become visible things and deeds of service.
A gift by its nature has no strings attached, so that the woman does not owe money or an equal gift.
The dance of love is intended to bond the couple together in mutual love and respect.
There is a hope and expectation that she will love him too.
This delightful season that fills poems, novels and movies has a long-term purpose.
After the lovey-dovey season there will surely come storms of life and long periods of dullness.
The many years of pressure, stress and hardships will test the strength of the love bond.
Therefore wise couples make a habit of having weekly date nights to keep the romance alive.
As marriage is a picture of the believers relationship with Christ so there are lessons to be gained.
The main way to see the lessons is to pray for eyes to see and ears to hear how God expresses His love.
This essay is just a tiny sketch of the vast mural of how God is offering expressions of His love daily.
Consider the various times that people spontaneously acknowledge God as present.
People are often moved to acknowledge God when a baby is born.
This can occur with an unusually lovely sunrise or sunset.
This can occur when a majestic vista is seen from the top of a mountain.
Consider the nature backgrounds used for inspirational cards, posters, slide shows, music videos, etc.
Think about the photos from the Grand Canyon, Hubble satellite of the galaxies and earth from the moon.
Sometimes on Christian TV programs there are Bible verses with instrumental music and nature scenes.
So may I suggest that the beauty of nature is just one of the many gifts from God to you.
Each time God sends someone into your life to speak words of encouragement, then that is His gift to you.
It might be a fact that you did or did not do something that is a violation of His high standards.
It could be true that you are not experiencing close fellowship with God the Father and His Son.
Maybe the Holy Spirit has been convicting your conscience of unrighteous actions or attitude.
Just because your side of the bridge is cluttered and blocked that does not mean His side is too.
The apostle Paul said that nothing separated you from the love of God in Christ. (Romans 8:35-39)
And just in case there was confusion about the term nothing, he gave a long list to eliminate exceptions.
The Holy Spirit points to nature to inspire readers in the book of Psalms and the book of Job.
All that can be seen, heard and felt about nature is handiwork of the Creator according to the Bible.
Remember the best photos, paintings and personal encounters with nature in your lifetime.
All that you have made contact with in your limited experience and much more is His creation.
Also at the same time without any contradiction or confusion that grand Creator is intimately personal.
You cannot see into the spiritual realm where angels dwell, yet God is in the here and now with you.
Jesus is everywhere all the time, so He is closer than your breath and more intimate than your thoughts.
You can never escape from God no matter where you run or how hard you try.
The One who said I am the Way, the Truth and the Life is always present, He is only a thought away.
You do not need to wait until Sunday morning to get dressed and go into a certain church building.
You can communicate with the living God who loves you right where you are and just as you are.
The love of God can reach you in your bedroom, car, office, bathroom, kitchen, garage, backyard, etc.
Consider that God already gave His best when He sent His only Son to save your soul.
Jesus willingly laid down His life when He, the Good Shepherd, died for you His lost sheep.
The faithful shepherd left the 99 to seek and find you.
Jesus did not leave you comfortless but sent the Comforter to abide in you.
The Holy Spirit lives in you today to quicken the Word of God and point you to Jesus.
God cannot love you more and He will not love you less.
God can never change and His commitment to love you, it is eternal.
As His adopted child, He will never disown you.
Your acceptance before God is based only on Jesus’ finished work.
You can never add to or take from the Word of God that is forever settled in Heaven.
For the joy set before Him, your Savior endured the Cross despising the shame.
In the garden of Gethsemane your substitutionary sacrifice willingly chose to drink the cup for you.
Jesus as the Son of Man allowed Himself to be arrested.
Christ endured false accusations and phony trials.
The Son of God could have called 10,000 angels to prevent the scourging and crucifixion.
The Word made flesh walked in obedience to Isaiah 53 and dozens of other prophecies.
The Lamb of God took away the sins of the world just as John the Baptist said He would.
The Holy Communion is a reminder of God’s great love.
The Body of Christ was broken for you one time.
The Blood of Christ was shed for you as the only way to ransom your soul.
You could not know you were lost apart from the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
You could never do enough or forsake enough to become qualified to be redeemed.
God loved you when you were completely unrighteous and spiritually ugly.
God knew every detail about your past and the darkness of the intents of your heart.
God gradually and gracefully drew you to Himself by the Holy Spirit.
God’s acceptance of you today, tomorrow and forever is totally due to the merits of Christ.
You did not and cannot deserve the love of God for it is a gift of marvelous grace.
We can love God because He first loved us.
Our Christian service is to be motivated by our gratitude for God’s love.
A lack of love for God or people can be cured by fervently embracing God’s love.
It is a lie when feelings, circumstances or analysis imply that God does not love you.
When in doubt, just seek and find any point of trust in God or His Word and then
- remember the testimonies of answered prayer
- recall personal revelations of His goodness, love, grace, mercy etc.
- review the points above
- gradually rebuild your faith and confidence in God’s love for you
- find creative and constructive ways to love God and people
Remember, what God wants is our respect, worship and love for Him.
We demonstrate our love for God by loving people in the name of Jesus.
