Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Lots of gifts, cards, and expressions of love. Love is a hot commodity. We all want to experience it. Love inspires, fulfills, and often disappoints. As human beings we are going to disappoint one another in our attempts to love, and we are going to be disappointed. Human love is fickle. Perfect love comes only from one source- God himself.
Do you really believe that God loves you?
I suspect that most of us might answer,
I believe it’s true from a mental standpoint but emotionally I don’t live in the reality of this truth.
Why is it so hard to believe or to accept God’s personal love?
We might be saying to ourselves:
If only He knew what I’m really like, what I’ve done, then He couldn’t love me.
The truth is He does know. Psalm 139 says, “You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”
There is nothing hidden from God. He knows it all. And in the midst of this knowing, He loves us with a passionate, pure love.
If we begin to grasp the idea of being totally known and completely loved we will receive comfort.
He can’t forgive me. My sin is too great.
When we say this we are actually saying, God, your son’s sacrifice on the cross for my sin wasn’t good enough. I need something stronger. Can you imagine how that makes our heavenly Father feel? Your son’s sacrifice wasn’t enough. My sin is greater than your sacrifice. Friends, there is no sin too great for the Father’s sacrifice, including yours. Begin to thank Him for His complete forgiveness every time that old sin enters your mind. He forgave you when you asked, and He has cast your sin as far as the East is from the West. (Psalm 103:12) Dwell on His forgiveness rather than on your sin.
Because of my personal story, the image of God as Father brings pain, hurt, and even anger. How can I grasp the idea of a loving Father?
Our earthly father does impact our view of our heavenly Father. It is harder to get our head around a loving Father if we haven’t had one. But, “nothing is impossible for God.” (Luke 1:37). He is a healing God, and He wants you to understand that He cannot help but love you. It’s His nature. It may take time, wise counseling, and healing prayers. But God has a great resume of healing.
I’m a little afraid of Him. What if He disappoints me?
My greatest disappointments with God come when He doesn’t do what I want Him to do in the time I want Him to do it. It helps to remember that God’s ways are not my ways. His ways are so much bigger. (Isaiah 55:8-9) He has the whole picture and we see only a tiny part. What may seem disappointing at the time may, down the road, turn out to have been a gentle hand of God leading in a safer, better direction. We may not understand His ways in the moment, but we rest in the promise of Romans 8:28 and in the arms of a Father who loves us.
I want to believe God’s love, but more often it’s my fears or my circumstances that control my disposition.
As weak, frail humans our mental default is likely to be fear. We are terrified of a great tragedy. We fear the worst will happen or perhaps it already has. Life hurts us. A relationship fails, dreams are dashed, and we ourselves mess up again. How can we live more in the reality of His love than in our fears?
One way is to get to know the character of our heavenly Father.
I have found it helpful to begin each day by choosing one character trait of the Trinity to dwell on: God the Father, Jesus his Son or the Holy Spirit.
For example:
He is the Father who delights in me “Great is the Lord who delights in the welfare of his servant” (Psalm 35:27b). It’s easy to wonder, how can anyone delight in me? I don’t even like myself today. “But you Father are delighting in me at this very moment and you will continued to do so throughout this day. Help me walk through this day with the thought: you are delighting in me.”
You are my guide. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” (John 16:13)
“Father, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to guide me into truth. Today I need guidance about____. I ask your Holy Spirit to guide me into truth.”
You are caring for me. “…casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) “Father, there are so many things I could be anxious about today. Instead of ‘mental churning’ help me to choose to say throughout this day, “right at this moment you are caring for me, caring for_____.”
When we choose to focus on the character of our heavenly Father instead of on our fears, we will begin to believe more and more that He does love us with a greater love than we ever dreamed possible. Learning to receive His love is a life-long journey-a joyous, exciting journey that will not be completed until we meet Him face to face in all of His glory. Can you imagine jumping into His outstretched arms-arms full of love?!
To discover 100 character traits of God for 100 days, check out my One Devotional
Susan Yates says
Thanks Jennifer! It’s so encouraging to hear from someone-especially you! Bless you with all you do for Family Life.
Hugs, Susan
Jennifer Dyer says
So true and beautifully written. I think it’s so important to remember that we need God’s word to replace our anxious thoughts. Thanks for writing this.