God loves us

Do you know that most people who believe in God have a hard time believing that God loves them? People find it easy to envision God as Creator and Judge, but terribly difficult to envision God as the One who loves them and cares deeply for them. But the truth is that our infinitely loving, creative and perfect God creates nothing that is contrary to himself, that is in opposition to himself. Everything God creates is good, a perfect manifestation in the universe of His perfection, creativity and love. Wherever we find the opposite of this - hatred, selfishness, greed, fear and anxiety - it is not because God made things that way.

What is evil but the perversion of what was originally good? Everything God created, including us humans, was exceedingly good, but it is the misuse of creation that breeds evil. It exists because we misuse the good liberty God gave us to move away from God, the source of our being, instead of drawing closer to Him.

What does that mean for us personally? Simply this: God created us out of the depth of his selfless love, out of his limitless store of perfection and out of his creative power. This means that we are perfectly whole and good, just as he created us. But what about our problems, sins and mistakes? These are all a result of moving away from the God who made us and sustains our life as the source of our being.
When we have turned away from God in our own direction, away from His love and goodness, we cannot see what He is really like. We see him as a fearsome judge, someone to be afraid of, someone waiting to hurt us or seek revenge for whatever wrong we have done. But God is not like that. He is always good and he always loves us.

He wants us to know him, that we experience his peace, his joy, his abundant love. Our Savior Jesus is the image of God's nature, and he carries all things with his mighty Word (Hebrews 1,3). Jesus showed us that God is for us, that he loves us despite our insane attempts to run away from him. Our Heavenly Father longs for us to repent and come to His home.

Jesus told a story about two sons. One of them was just like you and me. He wanted to be the center of his universe and create his own world for himself. Therefore, he claimed half of his inheritance and ran as far away as he could, living only to please himself. But his devotion to pleasing himself and living for himself wasn't working. The more he used his money from the inheritance for himself, the worse he felt and the more miserable he became.

From the depths of his neglected life, his thoughts turned back to his father and home. In a brief, bright moment, he understood that everything he really wanted, everything he really needed, everything that made him feel good and happy could be found right at his father's house. In the strength of that moment of truth, in that momentary unimpeded contact with his father's heart, he ripped himself out of the pig trough and began to make his way home. He kept wondering if his father would even take in such a fool and loser as he had become.

You know the rest of the story - it's in Luke 15. His father not only took him in again, he saw him coming when he was still a long way off; he had sincerely awaited his prodigal son. And he ran to meet him, to hug him, and to shower him with the same love he had always had for him. His joy was so great that it had to be celebrated.

There was another brother, the older one. The one who stayed with his father and didn't run away and didn't seem to mess up his life. When this brother heard about the celebration, he was angry and bitter towards his brother and father and would not go into the house. But his father also went out to him, and out of the same love he talked to him, and showered him with the same infinite love with which he had showered his vicious son.

Did the elder brother finally turn and join the celebration? Jesus didn't tell us that. But history tells us what we all need to know - God never stops loving us. He longs for us to repent and return to Him. It is never a question whether he will forgive us, accept us and love us because he is God our Father whose infinite love is always the same.
Is it time to stop running from God and return home to Him? God made us perfect and whole, a wonderful expression in his beautiful universe, marked by his love and creativity. And we still are. All we have to do is repent and reconnect with our Creator, who loves us today just as he loved us when he called us into existence.

by Joseph Tkach