God loves me.
Maybe you find that hard to say. Maybe you don’t feel all that lovable.
There’s an old gospel hymn written and sung by George Beverly Shea that gets to me every time I hear it. The first verse has these words:
“There’s the wonder of sunset at evening
The wonder as sunrise I see
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
Is the wonder that God loves me.Oh the wonder of it all.
The wonder of it all.
Just to think that God loves me.
O the wonder of it all.
The wonder of it all
Just to think that God loves me!”
Do you ever feel unloved? Unworthy of being loved? You feel so low down, unimportant, lower than a snail’s belly, you don’t see how anyone, including God, especially God, would or could possibly love you.
I have news for you.
You don’t deserve God’s love.
And neither do I.
You see, none of us deserve God’s love. Even one speck of going against His will leaves a black mark upon our souls that in and of ourselves, cannot be removed. That’s all it takes to put us an eternal arm’s length from God.
The culprit in one word is sin.
Sin makes us undeserving of God’s love There’s four ways sin has messed with us:
- Trained by sin: The moment we entered this world, we came in contact with the influence of sin. It’s all around us. We learned early on by observing and interacting with a world already full of it. The greed of older siblings marking their territory and possessions, and the selfishness of our parents as they argued over who was right and who was in charge nurtured us to become greedy, selfish, and domineering. We learned quickly we couldn’t have our own way and that made getting our way all the more enticing. Sin in the world trained us to be sinful and selfish.
- Drained by sin: The domino effect was set in full force. One bad choice leads to another. We started to reap what we sow, suffering the consequences of poor decisions and mistakes. Sin drains us of the vitality God intended for us to have.
- Chained by sin: The world calls it addition. The Bible calls it sin. We do what we don’t want to do and we don’t do what we know we should do. We try and try and try to do what is right but given the space of 24 hours, we’re certain to blow it somehow. Even our thoughts and impulsive reactions aren’t what God wants us to have.
- Stained by sin; If this talk about the impact of our own sin isn’t dismal enough, the actions of others falling into a mud pit flings mud and blood on us, staining us with sin’s imprint. Ask any girl who has been molested, any child who’s been struck by an alcoholic parent, a mom who has stood at the casket of her murdered son, any dad who has had an intruder threaten his home and family. Even angry words spoken in haste leave marks hard to erase. We bear the wounds of the evil of this world.
It’s a good thing God doesn’t base His love on how much we deserve it.
Merit has nothing to do with it. So, why does God love you?
- God loves me because He made me. Creators have an affinity for their creation. God is no different.
- God loves me because He is my Father. Just as a mother would take on grizzly bear status to push through a crowd of onlookers to save her child, Jesus rushed toward the cross to save us from certain death. He was willing to get muddy and bloody to save us from the punishment we deserve for the wrong we have done.
- God loves me because He knows what I can become. Transformed. Retrained by the righteousness that comes from believing in him and trust His best for me. Filled with a new vitality. Pure, spotless, Free.
Say it with me: God loves me. GOD LOVES ME.
What does God want from you in return?
He wants you to love Him back. Let Him clean you up. He offers you His extended Hand and invites you to go with Him to discover the treasures He has waiting for you and the life He intended for you to have in the first place.
Oh the wonder of it all. God loves me.
How has God expressed His love for you?
Here’s another version of The Wonder of It All. Notice how young and old find wonder in God’s love. It’s for everyone!
Leave a Reply