Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
For most of my life, if I'm honest, I've struggled to believe that God actually loves me. Considering my background and the dark past that I've had, the countless addictions that I've gone through, I've just struggled to believe that God loves me.
Jesus Loves Me, This I Know
I remember when my son was three. He would always sing the song "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so.” You might know that song. It's a very elementary song. Yet that elementary truth is sometimes very hard to grasp, if we're honest.
For me, I believe God loves me when I'm doing stuff for God. If I'm serving people, or if I'm preaching. You must understand, I'm a preacher. I love to encourage people. I love to place courage in people. I love to see the good in people and name it. I love to remind people that God loves them. Yet I struggle to believe that God loves me.
Experiential Knowledge of God's Love
Well, in our text today, John tells us this. "We know how much God loves us." Now, the ultimate expression of God loving us is that He sent His Son to die for us. That is the ultimate expression. Romans chapter 5, verse 8 will tell us that happened while we were sinners. Christ died for us.
But he uses the word know. That word know is not this intellectual knowledge. It is an experiential knowledge. We don't just know facts about God. No, we experience God. How do we experience God? We abide in God by cultivating our prayer life, by spending time in the Word, staying connected to a church that teaches the Bible, and we receive daily encouragement from them.
God's Love Doesn't Fluctuate
John says "We know how much God loves us." Here's the big idea. We have to understand that the love of God for us, it doesn't fluctuate based on how good we are or how much we serve Him.
Often I ask myself the question, Valentin, do you believe God loves you for you? Or do you believe that God loves you because you're doing a lot of stuff for Him? Here's the answer to that. Even on my best day, where I've served with all my heart and encouraged people, God loves me just the same because His love for me is constant.
In fact, the Bible tells us in Lamentations chapter 3, verses 22 and 23 that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. It never ceases. It is steadfast, and His love never fails.
Trusting in His Love
In fact, he says later, "God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love." Why do we put our trust in His love? Because God's love for us never fails. I can fail my wife, my boss, my friends, or my buddies. There's no guarantee that they're going to forgive me. But here's the good news of the Gospel. If I fail God, will God forgive me? Absolutely. His grace for me is available every single day. John wants us to know, put your trust in His love. Because His love never fails.
Living in Love
Then he says this: "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." Our job is to live in this love and stay attached to God. Because here's what happens when I stay attached to God: I have love to give to those around me, and one of the marks of a true believer is how I love those God has placed in my sphere of influence.
You might be wondering, yeah, but there are those people that are just super hard to love, and I can't seem to extend the love of God to them. Well, here's what the Bible will tell us. Romans chapter 5, verse 1 says that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. That means you and I have the capacity to love people, even those that are difficult to love. God has given us the capacity to love them.
My question to us is this: Do you believe that God loves you for you, for being yourself? Or do you believe that God loves you only when you're useful for Him? Are you ready to extend the love that's been poured out into your heart?
