Does God Love Me Personally?

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

No one knows what it's like to be the object of 100 percent of another's love. In the first place, everyone's human imperfections prevent them from loving perfectly and completely. Secondly, everyone spreads their love around - to a spouse, to children, parents, relatives, and close friends. No one gets all of another person's love.

But what if you could? What would it feel like to be that loved? Again, our humanness would probably keep us from experiencing perfect love in all its completeness. But there is one practical example to meditate on that comes as close as we'll ever get in this life: when God loved you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die in your place. You've probably heard John 3:16 so many times that maybe you've stopped listening to its truth. Or maybe it's so familiar to you that you think the "whosoever" is talking about someone else. Or maybe you think this verse is just a nice general principle to the world - God just loves the world in general, but no one in specific. Whatever the case, we often gloss over the absolute truth contained in this verse - God loved ME so much and so specifically, that He sent His Son down to earth to die for MY sins personally.

Consider afresh the truth in John 3:16. Think about the precious Gift that was sent to earth for you specifically and personally. Because God's love is infinite (it knows no bounds), the amount of love directed directly toward you is boundless. God loves you infinitely! It's as if earth had a population of one (1) and you were it! God poured out all His love upon you when He sent Jesus. The beloved disciple John wrote, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:9-10). That's what we celebrate during the Advent season - the birth of a little baby named Jesus Christ, Emmanuel or God with us; and the spiritual rebirth of humans into the family of God. We have the blessed opportunity and privilege to have the infinite God and Creator of the entire universe born within us
and live through us.

John also reminds us that the thing that should make us love God more and more, is the realization that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to be the propitiation (Def'n atonement, appeasement) for our sins. If you ever wonder who loves you and how much, remember the answer: God loves you as if you were the only one to love. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ... Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us" (1 John 3:1,16). As the sacred hymn says, "O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fulness over me; underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love; leading onward, leading homeward to my glorious rest above." Jesus loves you personally - now and forever!

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Copyright © 2021, Mark Varga, All rights reserved.