April 7, 2010

Why God Loves You

By: Vic St. Clair
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Why God Loves You

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” – John 3: 16 – 21.

Introduction. One of the greatest mysteries that people have is difficulty in understanding is the love of God. The concept of God’s love overwhelms us. It is more than we can think about. “For God so loved the world,” how can God love this world when so much evil is done here? How can God love me, because I too have evil things I think and do?

I am here to tell you that God does love you and you are very important to Him. He loves you so much that He became a man, died for you on the Cross, and conquered death by rising from the dead. That is the whole reason why we Christians celebrate Easter/Resurrection Sunday.

The Bible says, “‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15: 54-57.

God loves you because He created you.

The Bible tells us that people are a special creation of God. On the sixth day of the Beginnings, “God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” – Gen 2:7. We, you and I, are created by God. He made us in our mother’s womb. He knows us. The Bible says He has a plan for our lives, a good plan to give a hope and a future. He loves us because we are His idea. He created us.

God loves us because He created us in His image.

What does it mean to be created in God’s image? It means we have certain abilities that the animals do not have that help us to live in a relationship with God.

We have the ability to think.
We have the ability to feel.
We have the ability to decide.
We have the ability to know what is right and what is wrong.
We have the ability to love.
In all our ways, we have the ability to live in relationship with God.

God loves you because He created you to know Him.

What does it mean to know God? First let me say, to know God is more than just to know something about God. Many people have studied all the religions of man, but they still do not know God. They may know something ABOUT God, but they don’t know Him. To know God is to live in a relationship with Him. Well how do we do that? You ask.

We know Him through trusting in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” And, “…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” John 14: 6 + 9.
We know Him when we read the Bible. The Bible is God’s message to people. In the Bible we lean about God’s holiness, His love, His justice, His grace, His work, and His will for our lives.
We know Him when we are involved with His church. The Bible says, “We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.” 1 John 1: 3-4.
As we meet with one another and fellowship with one another we also have fellowship with God. Jesus said, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matt 18:20.

God loves you because you need Him.

If you studied the history of all mankind, you would discover that whenever people move away from God, whenever they put God and His ways out of their lives, they fail in life. The fact of the matter is this: We need God. We need Him working in our lives and helping us to live.

But there is a problem; He is a holy God and we are a sinful people. We need someone who will make a way for us to come to God. And that is just what Jesus did for us. He, who is God, became a man and lived His life here on earth to show us how to live in relationship with Him, and paid the price for our sin by dying on the Cross so that we could have our sins washed away and can live in relationship with Him. Listen to what the Apostle Peter had to say about this, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” – 1 Pet 1:18-19. God has solved the problem so that you can live your life together with Him.

You need God to help you live for Him. If you are a Christian, then you will want to live your life in a way that pleases God. You will want to experience God’s love in your life. His love cleanses you. His love sets your free from the things that keeps you back in life. His love heals you emotionally, relationally, physically, and spiritually.

After Jesus went to heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to us to help us, to teach us, to lead us, to comfort us, to tell us of Jesus. It is the power of God’s love that resurrected Jesus from the dead, and it is that same power that His Holy Spirit uses to help us. It’s called the love of God.

Conclusion. So what does all this mean to you personally? For those of you who do not know God may I suggest this, decide today to put your trust in Jesus and follow Him, and allow Him to give you God’s love to change your life and to give you a hope and a future, and His plan for your life. How do you do that? Just say in your heart, “Lord Jesus, I put my trust in you to forgive me my sins and bring me into relationship with God. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I can experience God’s love and follow you. I ask this in your name Lord Jesus, Amen.”

Now for all my Christian friends, what does this message mean to you? What should you do? May I suggest thinking about and taking your responsibility to say yes to God and no to sin? Think about the price that our Lord Jesus paid for us and adjust you life to seeking His plan and His way for your life, not your own plan and your own way of life.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Gal 5: 13-14.

Dear Christian use the freedom that God has given you to love one another by serving each other, and to love everyone else showing them God’s love by your actions.

God bless you!

Vic