It's a big question.
For many of you it will also be a highly personal question.
So pull up closer to the screen so that no one else will hear your answer.
Here goes:
Do you believe that God loves you?
Do you really believe that God loves you?
Do you really believe that God loves you?
Do you really believe that God loves you?
Do you really believe that God loves you?
Do you really believe that God loves you?
OK...that was more than one question. Or technically, it was one question asked in several ways.
I'm going to assume the answer is yes. You really believe that God loves you!
Here's the next question: Based on what?
How do you know that God really loves you? There are lots of folks who don't believe that. Who don't believe that God is loving.
There are many people who once believed it, but no longer do because life proved to them that God doesn't love them.
How do you know that God really loves you?
Lisa Gungor tells a moving, compelling story of how she no longer believes in God after years of a working in a mega-church and singing to huge crowds of Christians. She freely admits that she believed in a transactional God, a God who would act in her best interests if she lived the right kind of life, did the right kinds of things, and believed the right things. When she did all of that and God did not seemingly bless her, her faith in God began to erode. On top of that, she grew up in a religious system that didn't allow doubt. Put those two things together and she says she's lost her faith.
It's a heart-breaking story. And it happens too often in the church. When we worship an if-then God, a God who will only love us if we prove lovable and worthy, we're set up for disappointment. If we worship a God who allows no doubt, we can't be human.
Do you...really...believe...that...God...loves...you? How do you know?
There is only one place where that kind of hope can be rooted: In the promise of the cross.
For God so loved you that he gave his only son...
No matter what life throws your way...no matter what doubts you have...that God, that promise, will always cling to you! It will always hold you regardless of the ups and downs you experience.
God expresses his love for you in this...Christ died for you!
Faith is not first and foremost a feeling...or a belief...or an action. Faith is a gracious God-given gift that holds us, breathing life, hope, peace, and forgiveness into us whether we feel it or not. Faith is rooted in a God who gives.
Do you really believe that God loves you?
Now...one last question that will probably make some of you yell at me, delete this blog link, or throw up your hands in exasperation. But I have to ask.
Do you really believe that God loves you?
How would your check book answer that question?
If you're still with me...we'll dig deeper into that next time!
