A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"God, Loves Me?"

Does God love us? Is there any way to know for sure that he does? Our usually method of answering these questions involves the wonderful powers of deduction that we have been so well trained in. We gather evidence from our lives, our experiences, our surroundings, and our world, lay them all out before us, study them and after studying our evidence we conclude whether God does or does not love us. Alas, analysis like this brings only frustration. As soon as we have found a satisfactory answer, something happens, or someone points to another person or situation that brings doubt or discredit to our proof. The fact is, there is no human methodology, no philosophical proof, no scientific method, no investigative procedure that can give us satisfactory evidence of God's loving us.

Wait! Don't despair! There is a sure and final way to know that God loves us. We can be sure God loves us because He Loved Us! "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10) [See also John 3:16; Romans 8:28; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:16.]

Yes, our assurance of God's love is grounded in the fact that He loved us! There are very few places in the New Testament where we are told that God loves us. There are many places that repeat the wondrous, glorious, gracious, awesome fact that God Loved us. This is where the early Christians drew their assurance. God forever revealed His love for us by sending His Son to die on the cross in our place and come forth from the grave victoriously! God can never love us more than He did when He died for us. In his hymn "And Can It Be" Charles Wesley poetically captured this glorious truth: "Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God shoulds't die for me!"

Whenever you doubt God's love for you - Look to the cross! Whenever you wonder if God cares at all - Look to the cross! If you ever question God's love for that wayward family member - Look to the cross! Whenever someone asks you if God loves them - Point them to the cross! The cross stands through the ages proclaiming the wondrous reality that God loves us! In the cross God's love and justice converge fully providing for our salvation. There is no greater love.

Beloved, our assurance of God's love is firmly grounded for all time in the fact that He loved us when He sent Jesus to be "the atoning sacrifice for our sins!" Don't fret. Don't doubt. Don't despair. Look to the Cross!

Keep Close To Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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