You Are Loved

The Reckless, Foolish, Beautiful Love of God

Have you ever wondered what God really thinks about you?

It is perhaps the most important question we can ask ourselves. Not just "What do I think about God?" but more deeply, "What does God think about me?" Because the answer to that question shapes everything, how we live, how we love, how we face our challenges, and how we walk through seasons of uncertainty.

The answer is both simpler and more profound than we often realize: You are loved. Absolutely. Unconditionally. Extravagantly.

When God Seems Distant

Many of us carry distorted views of God. Perhaps we have been told He is angry with us, disappointed in our choices, or distant because of our failures. We lie awake at night convinced that our mistakes have disqualified us from His love. We run from relationship with the One who created us because we believe the lie that we are beyond redemption.

But here is the transformative truth: God does not wait for you to get your act together before He loves you. He loves you right now, exactly as you are, sitting in church or sitting in the bar, in your moment of greatest triumph or your darkest hour. His love does not fluctuate based on your performance. It is the foundation upon which everything else is built.

When we begin to believe that God loves us as we are, it gives us the power to become something different. Not the other way around.

The Power of Understanding God's Love

In Ephesians 3:14-19, the Apostle Paul offers one of the most beautiful prayers in Scripture. He prays that believers would be empowered with inner strength through God's Spirit, that Christ would make His home in their hearts, and that their roots would grow down deep into God's love.

Then Paul prays something extraordinary: that we would have the power to understand "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep" God's love is.

Notice the dimensions Paul describes. Wide and long. High and deep. He is painting a picture with words, describing something we all recognize, the cross of Jesus Christ.

If you ever wonder what God thinks about you, look no further than the cross. A God who created everything that exists subjected Himself to human existence, endured human judgment and misunderstanding, and went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. What more could He do to prove His love?

The cross is God's ultimate statement: "I love you this much."

The Foolishness of God's Love

Catherine of Siena, the medieval mystic and theologian, often began her prayers with startling words: "O divine madman, O eternal infinite God, O mad lover." She would describe God as "crazed with love, drunk with love."

Does that language make you uncomfortable? It should challenge us.

The French have a traditional Easter greeting: "L'amour de Dieu est folie"—"The love of God is folly." The love of God is foolishness.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that "the message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction, but to us who are being saved it is the very power of God."

God's love only seems insane to us because it defies our understanding that the Creator of the universe would literally enter our world and lay down His life for us. It is reckless. It is foolish. It is beyond comprehension.

And it is our only hope.

Experiencing What We Cannot Fully Understand

Paul prays that we would "experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully" (Ephesians 3:19). This is crucial. We are not called simply to understand God's love intellectually, we are called to experience it.

However we understand God will always be shallow and insufficient. Our finite minds cannot fully grasp infinite love. But we can experience it.

Miracles happen to people who are willing to see them. When we look at the world with eyes open to God's love, we begin to see it everywhere, in the beauty of creation, in the perfect timing of encouragement, in the people He brings into our lives, in the way He works through our hardest circumstances for our ultimate good.

Nothing Happens That God Doesn't Know About

Here is a truth worth holding onto: There is nothing that will happen to you today or in the future that God doesn't already know about, that God isn't in charge of, and that God will not ultimately work through somehow for your good.

You can take that to the bank.

When you are facing transitions, uncertainties, losses, or challenges, remember that God's glorious unlimited resources are available to empower you with strength. You do not have to be strong in your own power. You can be strong in the power of knowing you are loved by God.

Romans 5:6-8 reminds us: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners... But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."

The Father Is Very Fond of You

There is a story about an 80-year-old Irish man standing with his nephew at the shore of Lake Killarney in the pre-dawn hours. As the sun began to rise over the horizon, they stood mesmerized by the beauty of God's creation. Just when the sun cleared the horizon line, the old man took off skipping down the shore of the lake.

His bewildered nephew chased him down and asked, "What is going on with you?"

The old man looked at him with a big smile on his face and said, "Oh, lad, the Father is very fond of me."

May every sunrise remind you beyond a shadow of doubt that the God who created it takes great delight in you. He loves you more than you could love yourself. He loves you more than you feel like you could ever deserve or even receive.

And thank God His love is not dependent upon our deserving it or even receiving it. He is going to love you no matter what.

The Invitation

Today, you are invited to respond to this extravagant love. Perhaps you need to release your distorted thinking about God and yourself. Maybe you need to let go of the arrogance that says, "I am beyond love", because no one is beyond the sacrificial love of the Father.

If you are already in relationship with God, He is always calling you deeper into intimacy with Him. Where does He need to take you today?

If you have never experienced the love of God through Christ Jesus, dare to believe it could be true. When you take that first step of faith and trust, God will carry you in His arms to exactly where you need to be.

Now all glory to God who is able through His mighty power at work within us to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever.

Amen.