Discover: Deeply Loved

 

16 God has loved us and made us happy through his kindness. He gave us everlasting comfort and good hope. 17 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, comfort your hearts and make you strong to do and say everything that is good. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 WE 

16 God our Father loves us. He treats us with undeserved grace and has given us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope. We pray that our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father 17 will encourage you and help you always to do and say the right thing. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 CEV

 Discover. Discover means to become aware of something, to make an observation or a finding. When we discover something wonderful, it brings us great joy. 

 As believers, it's imperative to discover who you really are in Christ, what belongs to you because of Christ, and how God the Father sees you now. Growth in Christ is maturing into who you already are in Him. 

 The most important discovery in Christ is to know that you are deeply loved. God the Father deeply loves you with an unconditional, eternal love. This love is based solely upon Him and has nothing to do with you. 

 There is nothing that any of us can do to make God love us more. There is not one thing you can do more of or do something better for God to love you more. He already loves you with an everlasting love that is greater than any love known to mankind.

 On the other hand, there is nothing any of us can do that will cause God to love us less. This idea is met with resistance because it seems God is rewarding bad behavior. That is not the case at all.

 God loves you and me unconditionally. That is what Agape love is all about. If you can do something to make God love you less, then His love IS conditional and rooted solely in your performance. This would put God in the place of mere man, because mankind loves with conditions, with strings attached. 

 God isn't pleased with poor choices, wrong actions, or selfish behavior. He will even send corrective instructions to His own during these times. This doesn't equate to God loving His people less whenever they sin. In fact, it's His love and Goodness that bring change. 

 Some may be thinking about the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:7 as proof that we can make God love us more. It says God loves a cheerful giver. This statement is not some kind of new doctrine Paul was sharing. That financial givers are more special to God. 

 What the context is revealing is the heart of God. He is saying that God takes pleasure and is lovingly pleased with a cheerful giver. He is not looking for a grudging, obligation-oriented giver. This passage does not teach that there is a way for God to love you more.

 God loves you with an eternal, unconditional love. This love transcends time and space and all eternity. From the beginning of time, God saw you and loved you deeply. That's why He offered His only Son to pay the penalty for all sins. The Father sowed a Son and reaped a family. 

 God loves you even though you have sinned and made mistakes. Let's not take the amazing out of Grace. You, just like me, were lost, sinful, rebellious in your thoughts, and self-centered. Yet as wicked and unjust and sinful we all were, He still saw all that and chose to love us unconditionally. 

 This is amazing, Grace. This is wondrous and matchless love. This is the Love of God. You are loved, deeply loved by the Father. Discover this deep love the Father has for you again. 

 

Image by Bluehouse Skis from Pixabay