Face it my friend, God absolutely loves you.
Dare 2 Share - "Give me 100 men who love God and nothing else, who hate sin and nothing else, and I will change the world."
-- John Wesley --
I recently read a story about a sociology class that conducted a study of 200 young people from the inner city of Baltimore. It basically concluded than none of them had a reasonable chance at being successful in life. Twenty-five years later a sociology professor did a follow-up study, and located 180 of the original 200. Of that number, 176 had become doctors, lawyers, ministers, and successful business people. When he asked each of them how they were able to escape their predicted future, they all pointed to one teacher. The professor found that teacher, and asked her what she had done to make such an impact on them. She just smiled and said…
Wait a minute! 176 out of 200 people who were on a fast track to failure completely turned their lives around, all because of a single person. What was her secret? Let’s look at some possible responses:
She just smiled and said: “I bought them all stock in Microsoft at a young age so they could pay for college later.”
She just smiled and said: “I told them they were all going to be total and absolute morons when they grew up unless they changed their foolish ways.”
She just smiled and said: “I boosted their egos through intensive positive self-image group therapy.”
Actually, none of these were her real response- the story ends like this:
The professor found that teacher, and asked her what she'd done to make such an impact on them. She just smiled and said: “I loved them, and they knew it!"
Pretty simple- eh? The power of love is the greatest force in the universe. No amount of hate, bitterness, poverty, injustice, or prejudice can overcome it.
You know what else is simple? The power of God’s love. No amount of guilt, shame, sin, failure, or doubt can overcome it.
There are many among us who truly do not know that we are utterly loved by the One who made us and knows us. Yet just like the people in the survey, we could overcome even the most difficult of circumstances if we simply took God at His word:
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness." (Jer. 31:3)
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (Heb. 13:5)
What can we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? (Even the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep." No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)
Face it my friend, God absolutely loves you. Your past is forgiven and your future is secure. Your picture is in His wallet and your voice is in His MP3 player. Your life is His favorite DVD, and even now He is custom building your future home in heaven. The greatest lie the devil has thrown our way is the message that God’s love is fickle or conditional. Satan knows that if we just slightly became aware of the depth of God’s love, we might be as dangerous as the Apostle Paul…no wonder he works so hard to keep us feeling worthless and unloved!
Questions:
1) How often do you think about how much God loves you?
2) What causes you to doubt His love?
3) What is one way you can respond to His affection?
