A TBYT reader wrote me recently that they have a hard time believing that God loves them. More than once, someone has written me about this same issue.
I think I know the reason why someone would have a hard time believing God loves them.
Because they believe that God's love is performance based.
Many times, they have had a parental/authority-figure relationship in which that person made it clear that love would be diminished or taken away if the child didn't do what the authority figure wanted.
So the child grows up into adulthood insecure, with their eyes trained on their own weaknesses, shortcomings and past sins.
They may feel that love is something you must earn.
Even though they may accept Jesus Christ as Savior intellectually, He doesn't reach their heart.
Why do I say that? Because the whole basis of our salvation is John 3:16 -
''For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.''
If you don't believe the ''For God so loved…'' part, then you will have a hard time believing the rest of it!
God's love is not performance based. He loves you because He chooses to love you. It is based not on what you do but on what Jesus has already DONE.
So if you struggle in this area, then meditate on the following scripture and allow it to sink into your spirit:
''But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).''
Keep ''chewing on it'' over and over again until the joy of its truth bubbles up within you.
He loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah! (Okay, I slipped a Beatles reference in there).
We are children of the most High God and accepted in the Beloved. Just typing that makes me so very grateful to God for all He has done.
He LOVES us with all of our faults and scars. And that is cause for celebration!