Tag Archives: God loves each of us as if there was only one of us

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God in a Nutshell: Love and Faithfulness

You Are Eternally And Unconditionally Loved!

There is nothing you can do to make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less. God loves you! And when you truly “get that”, your life will be radically and eternally transformed—for the better.

Read: Psalm 117 // Focus: Psalm 117:1-2

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.”

They say that dynamite comes in small packages, and so does one of the most powerful truths in all of Scripture. Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible, but how profound these two verses are. The entire message that God has graciously communicated to mankind through his Word be summed up right here: God’s love toward us is great, and his faithfulness is unending.

Love and faithfulness—that is our God in a nutshell. He loves us unconditionally. We did nothing to deserve or earn his love. In fact, we have gone out of our way to repulse his love for us. (Romans 5:8) Yet he has stubbornly persisted in loving us.

And what can diminish his love for us? Nothing—not even our best efforts to drive him away. (Romans 8:38-39) He is faithful morning after morning, with each new day, to extend mercy, cover us with grace, shower us with goodness and embrace us with everlasting love. His love endures forever.

No wonder the authors of these psalms would often exclaim after writing of God’s great love and enduring faithfulness, “Praise the Lord!” What else is there to say.

Why don’t you join me today—at this very moment, wherever you are—and give a heartfelt “praise the Lord” shout-out to our loving and faithful God!

Praise the Lord!

Making Life Work: I dare you: watch this video and see if your day doesn’t get suddenly better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2mn86HdQFY&feature=related

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The Bible In One Verse

Being With Jesus:
John 3:16 (NLT)

“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.”

John 3:16—it’s the whole Bible in just one verse. The verse is so simple that any child can memorize it, yet it is so infinitely powerful that it can totally, radically transform your life. That’s right, this verse is not just an amazing statement about God’s universal love for all mankind, it is about God’s personal love for you!

God so loved the world, but he didn’t just look at it as one big mass of nameless faces. When he looked at the world and loved it, he was looking at you. Max Lucado, who wrote an entire book just on John 3:16, said, “If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.”

God has a crazy love for you! He really does. St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, one of the most influential figures in church history, said: “God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.” Think about that: If you were the only person on this planet, God would have loved you so much that he still would have given Jesus to die for your sins. There would still be John 3:16 if you were the sole human ever created.

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, told the story of an Irish priest on a walking tour of his rural parish, and he happened upon an old peasant man kneeling by the roadside, praying. The priest was impressed: “You must be very close to God.”

The peasant looked up from his prayers, thought for a moment, and smiled, “Yes, he’s very fond of me.” This simple man had a profound sense that he was loved by God, and that was all that mattered! From that story, Manning developed a personal declaration: “I am the one Jesus loves.”

That is in no way arrogant; it is actually quite Biblical. The Apostle John identified himself throughout his Gospel as “the one Jesus loved.” That came to be John’s primary identity in life. If you were to ask John, “Tell me about yourself,” he wouldn’t have said, ‘Well, I’m an apostle, and the author of this incredible Gospel.” Rather, John would have simply said, “I’m the one Jesus loves.”

Now if John could think of himself that way, so can you. John 3:16 gives you permission. So I hope you’ll practice remembering that this today: “You are the one Jesus loves!”

“We have a share in the special love of Jesus. We see evidences of that love…in the precious blood that He so freely shed for us…Behold how He loves us!” (Charles Spurgeon)

Getting To Know Jesus: Do you ever wonder if God really does love you? I do. The cross is a continual reminder for you and me that when he stretched out his arms on that wooden crossbeam, it was as if he were saying, “I love you this much!” Then he bowed His head, and died. And there is nothing today that can separate you from that love. Let the power of God’s love absolutely, profoundly change your life today!

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Romans 8: Inseparable!

Read Romans 8:31-39

Inseparable!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Romans 8:35,38-39

Digging Deeper: Thank God for Romans 8.  It is chock full of encouraging theology that reminds us of the great and unstoppable effort God exerted to redeem us from sin, remake us into the image of Jesus, and ready us to fit into His eternal purposes. From among many other reasons, this is so encouraging because often, on the surface of things, it seems as if precisely the opposite of redeeming, remaking and readying us for glory both in this life and especially in the next is the farthest thing from what is actually happening.

You see, we live in a dual reality.  While the work of God mentioned above is inexorably marching toward a glorious conclusion, we are still trapped in the sinful flesh, living in the sin-infested world, under the assault of the king of sin, Satan.  And often our sense of reality is that sin—our sin, the world’s sin, the unrelenting pressure of the sin-maker—is dragging us in the opposite direction of our redemption.

But the greater reality is that while that may seem to be true, God is at work in you, working out His eternal purposes.  And here is the good news: His work is unstoppable!  Moreover, while you are living in that dual reality between the awful pull of sin and the unstoppable work of redemption, you are inseparable from the stubborn, persistent, irrevocable love of God.

Did you catch that twice in these verses Paul reminds us of this glorious truth—that between you and God’s love the only thing that stands is the word “inseparable”?  What is it that can separate you from God’s ever-abiding, redeeming, providing, sustaining love?  Nothing!

Within the category of “nothing” is a pretty exhaustive list of things that cannot come between you and God’s love: Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword; not even death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  I think that pretty much covers it, don’t you?

Yes, not even your sin—past, present and future—can come between you and God’s love. Christ Jesus made sure of that on the cross.

Inseparable!

“God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.”
~St. Augustine

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Re-read Romans 8:1-39
  • Memorize Romans 8:32, “Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all—won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?”
  • Meditate on how this verse is to be understood in light of your sinful past (Romans 8:1), your moral weaknesses (Romans 8:5-13), your spiritual identity (Romans 8:14-17), your circumstances, past and present (Romans 8:28), and Satan’s attempts to separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).