Do You Know God Loves You?

For we know God loves us dearly. (Romans 5:5, NLT)

When I was a young wife, newly married, I needed to hear my husband say he loved me. It was important that I hear from with his own lips. If he went too long without saying it, I began to wonder or doubt if he still did. Over time, and now getting close to fifty years hearing him say it is not as important. It is nice to hear but I don’t need to hear it to know he does. Our life together, his care of me and our family, the things he does (and does not do) bespeak and prove his love in so many ways.

Paul wrote “For we know how dearly God loves us.” Yes, as Paul writes, we have the Holy Spirit, now living among and within us to show and confirm God’s deep love for us, but we also have uncountable proofs of his love.

At Christmas we are reminded of God’s love as we celebrate the coming of God’s own Son, Jesus. In love God shows us he would give anything and everything for us. So great is the Father’s love for us that he would sacrifice all and leave nothing. The love of others is wonderful to experience but we will never know or experience a love greater or purer than the love God has for us. We are his own creation and even though we have wounded him, turned away from him, forgotten to praise or thank him, blamed him, overlooked, and ignored him; been disobedient to him, sometimes walked away from him, he still loves us with that same fervent, eternal, unconditional, everlasting love that he has had from the very beginning.

There are many things we cannot count on or be completely confident of as we live out this life; tenuous as it may be, but there is one thing we can count on, take joy in, be uplifted by, and that is our Father’s love for us. Let’s Pray,

Lord, your love is more precious than fine gold. It is a love we can count on and rejoice in. Thank you for loving us and at this time of year we thank you for sending your Son Jesus to earth as a fulfillment of your promise to continue to love us through all eternity. Amen

Reflective Questions for Soul-Tending:

Do you feel God’s love for you? In what ways does God show his love for you?

How will you incorporate today’s message into your plan of soul-care?