Loved

We are going to be talking about loving people. 1 John 4:7-8 says, “Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love. Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him. The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for God is love.”

Those who are loved by God…? I thought God loved everyone. Most people believe that the gospel of John, the epistles 1, 2 and 3 John as well as the book of Revelations were penned by the same author. So how does the Apostle John say in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Then in 1 John 4:7 say, “Those who are loved by God…”?

I think the answer is in the very next word. “Those who are loved by God, let…”. God loves us all, but sometimes we don’t let Him love us. Sometimes we are closed off to the love of God and we keep Him at a distance for one reason or the other. Sometimes we look at our situations and look at others around us and determine that God must love them more than He loves us. Some people have suffered tremendous traumas, some at the hands of Christians and they feel some type of way about God.

God never trivialises our pain, our suffering, our circumstances or our misfortunes. However, just because one thing is true it does not automatically mean that the other is not. That is, just because we have experienced dark seasons and feel as though we have been through hell and back, does not mean God is not good and He does not love us.

The world is full of broken people and because we have been given free will, some choose to use it to perpetuate evil. On the other side of the same coin we have God who is all powerful but who is also not controlling. He does not force us to do anything even if it is for our good. So, if someone chooses to do evil, God will not take their free will from them. If He did, none of us would still have our free will because we have all done bad things or hurt people along the way. God will not take a person’s free choice from them but He will intervene any way He can, even if it is to bring healing and restoration after the fact.

God loves you. God loves people and He loves everyone the same! How crazy is that? God loves us all the same. Some people get mad about that because they feel there are people who are less deserving of God’s love. But isn’t that the gospel? That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, see Romans 5:8.

Even when we don’t deserve it, God still loves us. It is comforting really, because it means I can always come to God as I am, and I know His love for me is not based on what I did or did not do. God is never looking at us sideways or thinking bad thoughts towards us. Do you know how much someone must love you to know everything there is to know about you and not have one single bad thought towards you or side eye you every now and then?

God loves us flaws and all. In case you find it is a little difficult to believe me, let’s hear it from the man who murdered Christians in the name of religion and was later saved by Jesus, the Apostle Paul. In Romans 8:38-39 he says, “So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that his love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken his love. There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!”

The Apostle Paul didn’t say these words at the beginning of his ministry. These are words that he penned after he had been stoned multiple times and left for dead. After he had been shipwrecked. After he had been bitten by a snake, literally. After he had be wrongfully imprisoned for his faith. Something clicked on the inside of him that made him realise that his circumstances did not determine whether or not God loved him. God loved him deeply regardless of the situation he found himself in.

God loves us, whether life is going well, or it feels like a nightmare we cannot wake up from. Situations change, circumstances change but God’s love stays the same. I wonder how differently we would approach life if we truly believed and received God’s love for us. If we would let God love us not only on our good days, but on our bad days too.  

It is possible for us to receive God’s love as our very own just like the Apostle Paul. It is also possible to receive God’s love in one area of your life and not another. So, how do we know when we have received God’s love? 1 John 4:18 says, “Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection.”

Is there an area of your life where you have fear? Fear is an indication that we have not yet fully received the love of God in that area. Sit in God’s presence so He can minister to you in that area and breathe life and hope into that part of you so you can begin to embrace His precious love for you. God loves you unconditionally in every season. Whether you are right or wrong. Whether you are on the mountain top or deep in the valley. Whether you are sick or healthy. Broke or making it rain. Circumstances are never a measure of God’s love for us. His love is consistent and constant.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.