I love you...

Isaiah 43

In a world full of self-help remedies revolving around loving yourself, it's pretty easy to miss one vital truth: GOD LOVES YOU.

This can get over-looked by many people, as it sounds so cliche, even childish. (This isn't helped by the old VeggieTales catch phrase "God made you special and he loves you very much".)

It isn't.

When I say that your God loves you, don't picture the stereotypical Jesus figure with a golden halo, holding a lamb in one arm, and a baby in the other. Picture this: the Creator and sustainer of the universe, the one who "breathes out the stars", who holds the oceans in the hollow of his hand. He is the God of eternity. He is the God of the old testament, the "Holy One of Israel", beyond our comprehension. And he is the one who says to you, "I love you".

Amazed yet? There's more.

When your heavenly Father says that he loves you, don't take those words lightly. They are not words that are casually thrown about, meant half-heartedly, and therefore meaningless. They say that your actions should speak louder than your words, and guess what? It's true in this case. God doesn't just say "I love you". He shows it in a display of affection that will never be rivaled or matched.

Romans 5:6-8

He sent his one and only Son to die in the place of the people that rebelled against him. He looked at us, running away from him, striving to live our lives for ourselves and our own created gods, and he loved us. He saw our sin and our guilt, as black as can be, and he gave us a way to become as white as snow. A way to remove our condemnation and sin as far as the east is from the west, so that we can come before him as sons and daughters.

Hang in there, it gets even better.

Not only did Jesus' death on the cross cleanse us of our sin and shame, but he sweetened the deal. See, the only reason that Jesus was able to take our place was that he lived a perfect life, the life that we could never live. He was faced with all the temptations that we are, "yet without sin". (Hebrews 4:15). And when Jesus hung on that cross, two thousand years ago, he took all of our sin, all of our condemnation, on himself and he gave us his righteousness. We are now clothed in the spotless white robes of our Saviour, and nothing that we do can ever change our standing before him! No number of bad days, sinful thoughts, selfish acts can separate us from His love.

This is our God.

Don't let it become familiar. It is the most incredible love story of all time, and you are at the heart of it.