Reckless Love

To start, I am super excited about this one, and I really think God is going to speak to someone through this message. Maybe that is you!

-Jesus loves you.

Yep. You've probably heard that before. Maybe you have even told someone else the same thing. Maybe you sang that song in Sunday school. Maybe you have a bumper sticker that says that. And maybe you don't know what that really means. Maybe you don't even believe it.

We need to believe that Jesus loves us. The whole Gospel story is based around the fact that Jesus loves us! I mean, let's think about it.

-If God didn't love us, why would He send His only son as a sacrifice for us? (John 3:16)

He is all-powerful and in control of everything, but He shows sympathy and mercy toward us, and He loves us because we are His children.

-Before we go any further into this talk, let me address the people who truly think that God doesn't love them.

First off, this truly, deeply saddens the depths my heart. I know the love of my Jesus, but He is yours, too, and I want you to personally, intimately experience His love for you. It brings me to tears to think that there are people out there who literally think God doesn't love them.

Now see if this is the reason you might think Jesus doesn't love you, and I will give you an explanation for it.

"If Jesus loves me, why did He let that bad event in my life happen?" That might be a divorce, death of a loved one, a sickness in you or someone you love, or anything that hurt you. Maybe you think that He doesn't love you because He allowed something that caused you pain to happen in your life. Have you considered that sometimes God purposely sends us trials to test us, and help us grow our faith? He has done that in my life many times, and if you keep trusting Him and obey Proverbs 3:5-6, you will be okay. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight. I'm going to talk more about that verse another day.

-Lots of people think Jesus loves them, but then they sin, or they do something wrong, and they think that is was sooooo bad that Jesus couldn't possibly love them anymore. Well, let's go back to the crucifixion. God knew that there were murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars, and everything else on the Earth when he sent His son. And didn't he forgive the thief on the cross beside Him and say "You shall meet me in paradise?" Jesus forgave the thief, and so He will forgive you too. All is forgiven with the power of the blood. And He still loves you, like you would still love your child even if they did something wrong. And besides, John 3:16 says "God so loved the world", not the world except for you, but the whole world.

-Jesus loves you, and He loves you more than you can even comprehend. God said that His ways are higher than ours, and His thoughts are mightier than our thoughts, so what God thinks about us, we can not even understand. (Isaiah 55:8-9) It takes a few minutes to let that sink in, because when we try to imagine God's love for us, we don't end up anywhere near reality, because we simply cannot grasp the depth of His love for us.

-Jesus loves us fiercely. He will do anything to save you and reach you in time to sustain you as we walk this world. Bad things are going to happen, but Jesus will catch us. He will give us rest, but you have to let Him. It seems we often think of love in a romantic sense, with the batting of eyelashes and soft kisses. I mean, if you ask someone to define love, they will likely answer in that way. But we need to think more about fierce love. Love where God will do anything to save us. (Like send his son as a sacrifice for us!) I truly believe that He will go through anything for His children, because he loves us fiercely. He will come to our defense to matter the cost, because we are His children, and we are fiercely loved. He will kick down every wall, tare down every lie, light up every shadow, and climb every mountain to reach us.

-And remember that nothing can separate us from God's love for us. Romans 8: 38-39 says "For I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul called himself the chief of all sinners. He went around catching any Christian he could get his hands on, and threw them in prison. He persecuted many Christians in many ways, and therefore was persecuting God, and God still loved him.

-And friend, no matter what you have done in your lifetime, I am persuaded that God still loves you, too.

Takeaways:

-Jesus loves you.

-Bad things do not mean that God doesn't love you.

-Jesus loves you more than you can comprehend.

-Jesus loves you fiercely.

-Nothing can separate us from God's love.