Photo: Yannick Pulver – Unsplash

What are the thoughts that you live by, by choice or otherwise? For example “I want to be happy”, “I want to achieve my potential”. Or (involuntary) “I’m unworthy”, “I’m a waste of space”, “I’m unlovely”. And what Christian truths are most precious to you? Perhaps they’re connected to the above, or maybe they’re things you’ve heard and have held on to.

In some of the following posts I hope to share some of the Christian truths that I have found to be most precious. I remember many years ago someone saying to me “there are only 4 or 5 things that we really need to know in our hearts as Christians.” And there is some truth in that: Of course we want to constantly learn and get to know God better. But I do find that there are a few truths that are foundational and that I come back to regularly, helping me keep going in the Christian life.

I share them because I hope that you might also find them helpful, and that as they become more embedded in your mind , heart and will they sustain you and change you to become more like Christ.

The first truth is quite simple – the youngest child can grasp hold of it. (You may be familiar with that old song “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”) But it is also deeply profound, and life changing: “God loves me.”

The Bible’s Teaching

God’s love for his people is a theme running through the whole Bible. As I’ve written elsewhere, there are two pictures that are used over and over again – a husband and his bride; and a father and his children.

Again and again God is described as a husband, and his people are described as his bride; when Jesus comes to earth he describes himself as “the Bridegroom”; in Ephesians 5 Paul famously compares human marriages to the relationship between Christ and his people; and the climax of the whole Bible – at the end of the book of Revelation – is a feast to celebrate the wedding of Christ and his people.

Again, God is described as the Father of his people. In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus paints the lovely picture of the Father running towards his errant-but-returning son, welcoming him back. Jesus is the Son – God the Son – but the New Testament tells us that through faith in Christ we are included as God’s children:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 John 3:1

To see God’s love worked in out in flesh and blood, we need to look at Jesus. I encourage you to read through a gospel, noticing how the Lord Jesus loved all kinds of people in different ways. Supremely, consider him hanging on the cross, a theme to which we’ll return later.

What is it that makes God like this?  The apostle John tells us “God is love” (1 John 4:8): At the heart of the being of God is love. What is love? As I’ve written elsewhere I define it this way:

Happy, joyful, other-focused, faithful, sacrificial, active, life-giving, overflowing.

What is love?

Noting the third of those characteristics, ‘other-focused’, I observe that it’s only possible for love to exist if there is another to love and that’s why it’s so vital that God is Trinity: the Father and Son have loved one another in the power of the Holy Spirit for eternity.

Why is this precious?

But why is this truth so precious? Simply because we all long to be loved. We were made to be loved and to love. And yet many of us don’t know if we are loved – or we doubt it. That might result from a difficult childhood, or a difficult experience we’ve had in the past with a spouse or a friend; it might be that we’ve done something we regret, or think of ourselves as unworthy of love.

But this truth assures us that we are indeed loved – and in the most important way possible. Human relationships – sometimes wonderful – are imperfect, and won’t last forever. But this truth encourages us that we are loved by the one who made us specifically to receive his perfect, unending love.

Objection: What about my circumstances?

But what if my particular circumstances make me feel as though God doesn’t love me? We’ve all thought that at one time or another – myself included. Maybe things haven’t worked out the way you hoped, or you’ve lost a loved one, or there’s a particular part of your life that seems too hard.

How can we still know that God loves us in the darkness? Simply this: To see God’s love, we shouldn’t look at our own circumstances, but at Christ’s circumstances.

In our own circumstances we see one tiny thread of the tapestry of what God’s doing in our lives and in the world. From that one thread we can’t possibly see the whole tapestry.

But as we look at Jesus’s circumstances we see God’s love beyond any doubt: God the Son was with the Father in heaven in perfect joyful happiness. But he looked at earth, saw our sinful, broken, desperate state – and he came down, emptying himself, taking on human flesh, coming as a baby born not in a palace but laid in a manger. He grew up in a normal family in a poor and forgotten town. When he began his public ministry for 3 years he travelled around with no money or house. He gave himself for others in teaching, caring, healing.

And then he resolutely went to Jerusalem to die: He was betrayed, abandoned, mocked, scourged, crucified. He endured terrible physical and emotional pain, but even worse as he hung on the cross he faced the right condemnation from the Father against all our wrongdoing. For those six hours he was cut off from his Father with whom he had enjoyed perfect fellowship for all eternity.

Whatever we might have to endure – Jesus endured worse. There is nothing that you and I could go through that is worse. And why did he do it? What motivated him? Love for us!

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

This is the proof of God’s love. In verse 7 Paul notes that if we were good it’s possible that someone might die for us even if they didn’t love us (though I’m not sure how likely that is). But by contrast we weren’t good – not according to God’s standard of goodness. We were still sinners. We went our own way, fell short of God’s perfect standard. And yet – Christ died for us.

What more evidence do we need of Christ’s love for us? Whatever we’re going through – whatever we’re experiencing – this is evidence enough that Christ loves us.

So what?

It may be that as you read this you’re aware that you wouldn’t yet call yourself a Christian. If that describes you, I would gently ask – why wouldn’t you come to this God, welcome him into your life and receive his love?

Because receiving this love isn’t automatic. God certainly loves every human being as those he created. But the love we’ve been considering is more than that: The love of a husband, the love of a father needs to be received and responded to. For example, considering the story of the prodigal son: If the son had remained in a distant land far from his father there would be no opportunity for the father to show him his love and welcome him back. So we need to come to the Father, and to the Husband Jesus Christ, to receive God’s love. So if you haven’t yet come to God in that way – why wouldn’t you? Do follow this link to discover how you can.

What about those of us who are already in this love relationship with God? We need to find ways to bathe ourselves in the reality that God loves me. Because it’s so easy to forget it, or for it to appear untrue. To put it another way, there is a battle going on in our hearts for the truth.

Why do we need the truth to sink into our hearts? As God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we have hope (Romans 5:5) – we’re able to persevere. And as we enjoy being God’s children and look forward to the glorious future of his children, so we are changed (1 John 3:2-3). Knowing God’s love give us hope, enables us to persevere, and changes us.

Consider the example of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Zacchaeus was a sinful man who heard Jesus was in town and was desperate to see him, so he climbed a tree to get a better view. And Jesus came to the tree and called to him “Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house today.” Jesus showed him love and acceptance. Zacchaeus’s response was immediate – “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” Having received Jesus’s love, Zacchaeus was changed – he repented, and he loved others. In fact I would suggest that knowing God’s love for us is the only way in which we can genuinely obey the greatest commandments – Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbour as yourself.

How can I know and live in the love of God for me? First, make it a focus of your daily time with God. Pray, “Lord, show me your love today.” The Psalmist prays

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14

See also Ephesians 3:14-19 where Paul prays we would know God’s love which surpasses knowledge.

Second, think about a bible story that reveals God’s love. For example, you might like to put yourself into the shoes of Zacchaeus in the story just recounted. Or memorise bible verses that express the love of God.

Third, worship music can be really helpful for soaking in God’s love.

Or simply stop, be silent, and enjoy the fact that God loves you. Remember that we are not human doings – we are human beings, made to be in God’s love. So stop, just for two minutes, clear your mind of everything else, and enjoy being loved by God.

I pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.”

Ephesians 3:17-19