To BELOVED

Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is, “to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves.” Love is a circle – as you love God, He is able to create an overflow of love within you that enables you to pass it on to others. But what if you do not believe that God loves you, can you really love God? Believing that God loves you is essential to loving God, which in turn is key to loving yourself which then enables you to love others. In other words, the circle of love does not begin with us loving God but it begins with God loving us. He first loved us, enabling us to love Him in return which permits us to love ourselves and then to love others. To make it even clearer, Jesus’ statement in I John 4: 7-11 could be restated by saying this; since God loves you, you then ought to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Friend, you are the beloved of God. You are His crown and jewel. You are the highlight of His creation. You are the only one made in His image and likeness. You are the one to whom He entrusted the works of His hands. You are the reason He sent His son to die on the cross. Nothing you do can add to or take away from His love for you. When you think about God’s feelings towards you, keep these seven things in mind

1. God loved you before you were conceived
2. God loved you before you were born
3. God loved you before you even knew Him
4. God loves you unconditionally
5. God loves you as you are
6. Nothing you do can make Him love you more
7. Anything you do to make Him love you more is a sin

You may wonder what the incentive is for loving Him, serving Him or even obeying His commandments if God loves you without condition. We love Him, serve Him and obey His commandments not so we can earn His love but as an appreciation for His love for us. We can never earn His love and nothing that we do will ever be enough to deserve His love. That is why He sent His Son Jesus so that He can love us through His son. He paid the price and He is perfect and sinless (Ephesians 2:8-9).