God Loves You

"God is love." (I John 4:8)

All my life I have been told, "God loves you." Now I don't know about you, but I don't have much trouble believing that God loves you. My problem has been, how could God love me. I live with me. I know all the bad things that I have done in my life. How could God possibly love me? Maybe you have struggled with that from time to time as well.

God's love for us is not based on how lovable we are. If it was, we would all be in serious trouble. But the Bible says that God is love. It does not teach that He just loves. His very essence is love. He loves because of who He is, not because of who we are. His love is not dependent on our merit. It has nothing to do with what we deserve. It is all about who God is.

We cannot experience God's love apart from Jesus Christ. God loves everyone, and He desires that everyone experience His love. But I John also teaches that "God is light". That means that in His essence He is also holy and just. God's holy nature and His love intersect at the cross. One the cross, Jesus Christ paid the sin debt we owed and could not pay. By satisfying the justice of God, He is able to mediate love to us.

So yes God loves you and He loves me. We cannot do anything to make Him love us more, nor can we cause Him to love us less. We can experience God's love today, by coming to God through Jesus Christ.