Does anything prevent you from feeling confident that God loves you? Perhaps you are convinced some sin from your past blocks His love. In that case, think about Paul. He violently persecuted Christians before he himself finally turned to the Lord. If such a man knew God loved him, would that help you realize you, too, are loved?
Whatever your experiences are, Paul probably encountered something you can relate to. Yet he kept spreading his message of hope: God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins.
Maybe you wonder how a God of love could allow you to be hurt or abused. Or possibly you feel alone and unlovable. Paul endured beatings and imprisonment for preaching the gospel, his friends abandoned him, and he was even shipwrecked. But if Paul was able to have faith that God loved him, won’t you believe that God loves you as well?
Whether your situation is unfair, painful, or humiliating, the fact that it happened doesn’t mean God has stopped loving you. Sometimes we face difficulty because He is polishing our rough edges and molding us into His image. Other times trials instigated by Satan are allowed in our life through the Lord’s permissive will. Either way, God is working everything out to our good, according to His individualized purpose for each believer (Rom. 8:28).
The key to accepting the truth of God’s unconditional love is to focus on Him, not circumstances. When you’re learning of Him, talking with Him, and sharing your life with Him, trust and faith naturally replace doubt and fear.
God is love. His nature requires that He care for His creation unconditionally. This means that no matter what people do, think, or say—even if they reject Him—the Lord will not stop loving them.
After reading that last sentence, there are many people who are going to think of a dozen reasons why they are an exception. So let me make this clear: God loves each and every one of us, and the only thing preventing us from experiencing that love is our own response. We will believe either our feelings or the truth of Scripture.
Paul points out that God is on the side of the believer. (See Rom. 8:31.) He gave up His Son Jesus Christ to death so that we could be purified and enter into a relationship with Him. Jesus’ sacrifice itself is proof of God’s love, but there are many additional expressions of His care for us. The Lord has a purpose and plan for every person’s life. Through His sovereign control, He works every situation—good and bad—to our benefit (Rom. 8:28). He is a loving Father who not only is interested in what happens to us but also is actively involved in our daily life.
Some people read and intellectually believe every word of the Bible but still feel unloved because they judge themselves unworthy. Their doubt acts like a dam, keeping the flow of God’s care from their hearts. The barrier will hold as long as the person believes he or she must deserve His love. But no sinner deserves pure love. God knows that and freely gives His love to us anyway. It is our choice whether to accept it.
Our culture is an “instant” society. Because of inventions like the computer and the microwave, we’re used to quick results. A fast pace isn’t necessarily bad, but we should guard against becoming so set on immediate fulfillment that we can’t wait for God’s timing.
This problem existed long before the computer age. In Genesis 15:4-5, God revealed to Abraham that though he and his wife Sarah were too old to have children, a great nation would come from him. Abraham believed God but eventually decided to handle matters on his own. He took Sarah’s servant Hagar as his wife so that she could bear the promised son. (See Gen. 16.)
Abraham probably rationalized his decision, figuring that God wanted him to have a son—and since it seemed impossible any other way, surely this must be what the Lord wanted him to do! But it wasn’t. Abraham had to deal with the consequences of his actions, including jealousy and resentment between Sarah and Hagar. These problems in turn created further difficulties, both in the short term and throughout history.
God was faithful, though—14 years later, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Yet the consequences of Abraham’s decision to step out of God’s plan remain with us. The two boys became the fathers of nations that are still in conflict.
Like Abraham, we might believe God’s promises but prefer immediate results. Or we may just want things to be done our way. Instead, ask the Father to lead you. Then wait for Him. His way may not be what you think you want, but it is always best.
Success is often hard to define. Our human eyes see it in the financial gain of a businessman, the fame of a celebrity, and the exceptional ability of an athlete. In any field, we generally equate success with fame, money, and power.
If these were truly the way to measure, then we could never call the apostle Paul “successful.” Was he famous? In his lifetime, he was actually infamous; Paul was a notorious troublemaker among the Jews and strict Roman rulers.
Was he wealthy? As a leader among the Jews, he most likely was. However, when Jesus Christ called him to spread the gospel to the world, his financial status changed quickly. He lived the rest of his life as an itinerant preacher, supporting himself on missionary journeys by making tents.
Was he admirable? In the eyes of the world, he was simply a strange, brash preacher of a new gospel. He was in and out of prison, often unimpressive in appearance, and the victim of an unspecified ailment. (See 2 Cor. 12:7.)
But was he powerful? In his own strength, Paul was just as weak as any other man. He said of himself, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Rom. 7:19). However, Paul had access to the most amazing power the world had ever known: Jesus Christ. In the face of weakness, he exclaimed, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).
That very same power is available to you today. Praise God for making you a success through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Most likely, you do not enjoy your areas of weakness. Most of us tend to be problem solvers; often when we identify a deficiency in our life, we stop at nothing to correct the issue.
Our drive to be the best—or, at the very least, “normal”—generally leads us headlong down the path of self-sufficiency. After all, doesn’t the Lord want us to solve the problems we encounter?
While it is true that through God, dramatic changes can occur in the lives of His children, we ourselves must not take credit for the power to change. Our own strength is weak and faulty. John 15:5 says “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” The strength of God is limitless. (See Phil. 4:13.) Paul captures this image perfectly in 2 Corinthians 4:7, when he says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.”
We can trust this statement because of the apostle Paul’s credentials in adversity: He had been imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and persecuted. Moreover, he struggled continually with a personal ailment, which he referred to as his “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7).
The Lord used these things in Paul’s life to keep him centered on divine power, not his own. Pride puts us in opposition to God. What weaknesses are present in your life that the Father may be using to keep your eyes on Him? Praise God today for those things that bring you into complete dependence upon Him alone.
