Does God Even Love Me?

I was talking with a guy the other day that was telling me he wasn't even sure if God loved him.  He was a Christian, but he wasn't sure how God felt about him.  I didn't ask the details.  I don't know why he felt that way, but I knew in my spirit that the topic needed to be addressed.  

 

You see if you really knew for sure how much God loved you, you would be able to know that there is not a thing in the world that He wouldn't do for you.  But if you don't know that for sure, you won't have that confidence or peace of mind.  You won't be free to reign because the bondage of doubt and condemnation will have you shackled.  

 

If you aren't sure that God loves you, really loves you, you won't have the confidence to approach the throne of grace and bring your concerns to God with any assurance that He will respond.  If you aren't sure of God's love for you, you are more likely to have ideas like:

Recognize any of those thoughts?  All lies of the devil.  

 

So, how can you know that God loves you...like not just that God loves mankind but that He loves you personally and deeply?

 

Well, it all starts before time began.  Before mankind was ever even created.  "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:4-6 (NASB)

 

Before you were ever created, He was thinking of you.  He chose you.  There is something about being chosen, isn't there?  Whether it is for the kickball team in gym class or as someone's choice to marry, it feels good to be wanted, valued, chosen.  You weren't an afterthought.  You were a before the foundation of the world thought.  

 

It's because of His love for us that we have the high honor of being adopted as one of His kids.  Have you ever thought about how God could have been any kind of God He wanted and there wouldn't be a thing in the world you could do about it?  He could have made us be His slaves.  We could have been created without free will.  We could have our heads chopped off at our first sin and sent to hell.  Aren't you grateful that He is not like that?  He only has kind thoughts to increase you, dignify you and bless you.  He is always looking for ways to get things to us, to freely bestow upon you His love, because you are His beloved.  

 

Then when things went wrong in the garden and man sinned, God didn't change His mind.  He had a plan in place before the foundation of the world and He followed through.  God sent His one and only son, Jesus, to earth to die for you because He didn't want to have just one son.  He wanted you in the family.  You were worth coming for.  You were worth dying for.  You were worth fighting all the demons of hell for.  

 

Our wrong ideas of God not loving us usually come from some sin that we have committed.  We can't imagine that He could still love us.  We don't measure up.  We aren't good enough for Him.  And you know what?  You are right.  On your own, you would never deserve God's kindness and love.  But remember our verse says "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him."  In Christ, we are holy and blameless because He is holy and blameless.  Yes, you should still confess your sins and yes, you should still be obedient to God's word.  But we are obedient to Him because of our gratefulness for His love not to try to earn His love.  Big difference.  Our obedience is a response to His love.

 

So, after planning from the before the beginning of time to adopt you and after coming to earth to rescue you, He now stays with you.  You are in Christ and Christ is in you.  Imagine yourself totally encased but also saturated with the Holy Spirit.  Imagine His love saturating every molecule of your being.  That love will heal your body.  That love will chase away every fear.  That love will bring you joy.  

 

It's easy to lose the feeling of God loving you when you fix your eyes on your sinfulness or the craziness of this world.  So, fix your eyes on Jesus.  Sit at rest in His presence and just let Him love on you.  Read verses about how much He loves you and just choose to believe it.  You are, after all, trusting Him for your entire eternal life.  You can trust Him for a deep and personal love in the here and now.  

 

P.S.  He doesn't just love you, he likes you.  Check out this video I did on the subject.  It's one of the things I love about God.