We’ve all been told at some point or another that God loves us. We’ve been told in sermons, at conferences, and in songs. It’s a great message, but like most great messages, when you hear it often, it begins to lose it’s meaning. Why is God’s love such a big deal, I mean He loves everyone right? What does God’s love have to do with you and your everyday life?
God’s love isn’t just sentimental feelings of affection for you. God’s love doesn’t mean that He thinks you are great. It means that He values you whether you are acting great or not. His love is not just a fact that you should know in your head. It starts there, but it’s much more.
God’s love is an active, aggressive process. God’s valuing of you means that He wants the best for you. That’s good news for two important reasons; number one, God knows everything, so He actually knows what it best for you. How many times have you made a bad decision or failed at a task simply because you didn’t know enough about it? I’ve done it millions of times. It’s impossible to know every possible aspect of every thing. With God, we don’t have to. The second part is also reassuring. God has unlimited power, so He has the ability to help you accomplish what is best for you. Sadly however, while God is good on His side, our side is less than reliable. Our lack of knowledge and lack of power often leads us to battle against God and against what’s best for us. We don’t know and we don’t have as much control as we think we do. That
brings us to a crossroads with two possible answers.
There are only two options in our relationship with God. We either trust God’s love for us even though we don’t understand it and can’t predict it, or we trust ourselves and our efforts. Trusting God, rather than proving yourself to God is the key to life. Rather than seeking to understand or control His love, simply accept it. The song I was taught to sing when I was young wasn’t joking when it taught that God’s love is like “a fountain flowing deep and wide”. Being loved by God is a lot like being carried along a rapidly flowing river. It’s deep so my feet can’t reach the ground and control it. It’s wide, so I can’t reach to the side and escape it. It bruises me, frustrates me, cleans me, and calms me. It’s constantly changing and at the end, I will be in a very different place because of it.
God loves for you matters very much and it’s yours if you will have it.