God Loves me?

Article written by Pastor Phil Bray

You are telling me that God loves me? But God knows… everything. He knows every thought, every failure, every selfish act of rebellion I ever have chosen over Him. Nothing is hidden from His all-seeing gaze. His eyes are too pure to look upon evil. How can He possibly look on me with anything but revulsion and disgust? I know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). But me? I just can’t see it. I certainly don’t feel it. What do I feel? I think God simply tolerates me. I think God groans a bit, pinches the bridge of His majestic nose, and squeezes His all-seeing eyes shut in exasperated frustration. That is how I think God views me.

You couldn’t be more wrong, my friend! “God is love” (1 John 4:8)! His very essence is love! Love is who He is and the chief characteristic from which He acts! “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself” (Eph. 1:4b–5)! But surely that was before He knew what I would do? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Not at all! God’s love is most fully and magnificently displayed in the act of sending His Son to absorb the wrath justly deserved for our sins so that He might justly and gloriously adopt us as His own children!
“But that love is different. I’m an adopted child, not a real child. I’m a child He tolerates and endures, but not truly loves.” No! Look at this precious moment in which Jesus is praying for us to the Father: “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know You sent Me, and loved them even as You have loved Me” (John 17:20–23).

That is jaw-dropping, isn’t it? It is a promise of tear-inducing wonder and joy. Jesus has acted in His death and resurrection for the express purpose of enabling us to be loved by the Father with the same exquisite and perfect love which He enjoys from the Father! The Father loves us in the same way that He loves Jesus!

God loves me?! Yes! He loves you like He loves Jesus! He doesn’t tolerate Jesus. He doesn’t merely endure Jesus’ presence because He is caught on the horns of a promise He made long ago. He doesn’t simply put up with Jesus! He loves Jesus. He delights in Jesus! In the same way, He loves and delights in us! Listen to this eye-popping promise: “The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you will fear disaster no more. In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: ‘Do not be afraid, O Zion; do not let your hands fall limp. The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy’” (Zeph. 3:15–17).
God’s love for you causes Him to literally shout with joy over you! His love for you produces exuberant and joyful delight in you! Think about that for a minute! “But you don’t understand…” No! You don’t understand! You have been thinking about God wrongly! Listen to this: “And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you” (Isa. 62:5)! God rejoices over you because He loves you with the same untainted and perfect love with which He loves Jesus His Son! Still struggling to swallow this? Is it because you are a sinner?

Open your Bible to Luke 15 and read through that chapter. Go ahead. Read it now. I’ll wait… Back? Did you see it? Surely a smile is splitting your cheeks at this point! The Pharisees are ticked off and grumbling about Jesus because “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). That word receives means to receive joyfully, eagerly, exuberantly! Jesus is welcoming sinners with exuberance; He is having a party, a celebration with sinners who have come to Him—and this bothers the religious prudes very much. Jesus tells a series of parables that all point to one glorious truth in response to their grumbling.
What is the common theme? In each story we see something lost. There is a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. In each story, the shepherd, the woman, and the father desperately search and search until they find what was lost. Finally, once the lost item has been found, there is great rejoicing! The shepherd lays the lost sheep upon his shoulders, “rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” (Luke 15:5b–6). The woman likewise calls out to her neighbors, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!” (Luke 15:9). The reason for rejoicing is simply this: that which was lost has been found! It is a time to celebrate! It is time to rejoice and shout with joy!

Now look at the last story, the lost son. The son is lost, but his lostness is that of rebellion, rejection, and hatred of his father. He wishes his father would just hurry up and die so that he can receive his inheritance. His father gives it to him, and so he flees from the father’s presence, squandering the good gift of his father in self-indulgence and wickedness. Only when the consequences of his sin crash into his life, causing him to careen into utter misery and despair, does he come to his senses. He remembers the lavish bounty of his father. Yet, like you and me, my friend, he does not believe his father will still love him. He believes his father might tolerate him as a hired hand. He hopes that he can simply serve his father and pick up a few scraps from the table of his father’s bounty. He hopes he can earn a few fragments of kindness by dutifully serving as his father’s slave. He admits his sin and guilt, gets up, and returns to the father.

Oh, it’s about to get good! While he is still a long way off, the father sees him! His father is looking for him! His father is searching the horizon for him, hoping for him to return! Just like the shepherd and the woman, the father searches earnestly for that which he loves, that which is lost, until he finds him! What does he do then? The father, overflowing with compassion, runs to the wretched son! He abandons dignity and scrambles off the porch, robes flying and dust exploding as his feet pound the path to his lost son! Before the son can say anything, the father crushes his rebellious but returning son in a bear’s embrace and smothers him with kisses of relief and joy. The returning son is now thoroughly shocked, but still tries to get out his rehearsed speech—only to be shut down as the father starts shouting at the slaves to bring out a new robe to replace his rags, a ring to symbolize his place in the family, and new sandals for his feet! He commands them to slaughter the fattened calf reserved for special celebrations and to prepare a feast so that they can be merry! Why, you ask? “For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

It is time to celebrate because that which was lost has been found! That which was dead in the rebellion of his sin has come to life and returned to the father! The one who was lost has been found! The father is not angry, off-put, or demanding penance of some kind! He envelops the son in a crushing embrace and reinstates him as a son! Now his older brother (like the Pharisees) begins to grumble that the father is receiving this rebellious sinner of a son back with joy and celebration. Listen to what the father says to the older son, what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, and what He is ultimately saying to you and me today: “But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:32).
Do you see? God declares that when sinners repent and return to the LORD, the one thing that must be done is rejoice! Jesus interprets the parables for us: “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). He says it another way for emphasis a few verses later: “In the same way, I tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Who is it that dwells in heaven? God! Who is it that stands in the presence of the angels in heaven? God! It is God who is exulting in joy when sinners repent! Why? Because He is love! You think your sin cuts you off from His love? Not a chance! God is leading the celebration with loud shouts of joy when you repent of your sin and return to Him!
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God loves you! He loves you like He loves Jesus, which means He rejoices over you like a bridegroom who sees his bride coming down the aisle! God does not just tolerate you, my friend. He delights in you so that you might delight in Him. Come home. Come to the Father, and you will not find a scowling face with arms crossed who demands you work for your breakfast. No, you will find yourself crushed in the embrace of loving omnipotence, smothered with the kisses of relief and joy, and a smiling face who gently and tenderly wipes every tear from your eyes as He says, “I love you, my child.”