God the Father Loves You Dearly

Dear Friends,

We recently celebrated my son, Josh's, eighteenth birthday.  We had a night away with extended family, which included a meal out, an amazing birthday cake made by Jason and  watching Josh open his presents.  The following day we all went to Colchester Zoo where Jason and I had arranged a surprise for Josh.  We had organised for him and his girlfriend to have an animal experience with one of the zookeepers.  As meerkats are Josh's favourite animals it obviously had to be a meerkat experience.  He and his girlfriend got to go into the meerkat enclosure.  They weren't allowed to touch them but they could sit and let the meerkats clamber all over them.  They had time to feed the meerkats and talk with the zookeeper about these animals.  The rest of us got to watch them and take photos. 

It was a great break away, everyone enjoyed themselves and it was a great opportunity to make some lasting memories.  Jason and I really enjoyed doing this for Josh.  We did it because Josh is our son and we love him.

Our love for Josh is based on the fact that he is our child.  Our love is not based on whether he has earned it. It's not based on whether he has done enough to deserve it.  Whatever happens our love for Josh is unconditional and constant.

As I reflected on this special time, God made me aware that our love for Josh is a reflection, albeit a pale reflection, of God's own love for us as his children. 

In John's first letter John wrote: 
"See what great love the Father has lavished on us,(that includes me and you) that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

We have a great example of God the Father's love for his own Son, Jesus, in Mark 1:9-11 "9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice from heaven said, 'You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.'" (NLT)

God speaks words of love over Jesus.  He acknowledges Jesus as his Son.  We see the special relationship that the two share - Jesus is loved dearly by his Father.  Not only that, we learn that Jesus brings God great joy.  Other translations use the words "delight" or "well-pleased".

God the Father loves his own Son - it's a love born out of relationship.  As a result of Jesus being God's Son, he brings God joy. God is pleased with Jesus, he delights in him and he loves him.  This is not a result of Jesus doing anything to earn the Father's love because Jesus had not yet begun his public ministry. He was yet to fulfil God's purpose for him.

The amazing truth is that God loves me and loves you with that same love he has for his Son, Jesus.  He has calls us his children.  We find our true identity in God - that we are a dearly loved son/daughter of the living God.  It is in this identity that we find real security and peace.  There are some of you who are reading this who need to know this, not just in your head, but in your heart and soul too.

Jesus is aware that God loves us and he wants us to be aware of this too.  Jesus said: "I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me." John 17:23 (NLT) 

In the previous chapter Jesus said to his disciples (and it still applies to me and you today) "for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from God." John 16:27 (NLT)

Perhaps you have never experienced this kind of love before.  Perhaps you've only known conditional love from others.  Perhaps they've said "I'll love you if you do this or that..."  Or "I don't love you anymore, you've let me down too many times."  Perhaps they've told you they love you, yet then they've gone on to abuse you and mistreat you.  Perhaps you've been told you don't deserve to be loved and that no-one could possibly ever love you. 

Maybe you've believed what they've told you and you doubt that God could love you.  Maybe you've spent your life trying so hard to make God love you.  You've done everything you can think of so that God will love you.  Yet you still don't believe God loves you.

Today, you need to know that there's nothing you or I, or anyone can do to make God love us.  The truth is that God already loves us.  He chose to love you, even before you were born.  "Even before he made the world, God loved us" Ephesians 1:4a (NLT). You can depend on his love.  There is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there's nothing you can do to make him love you less.  God loves you with a perfect love, he loves you unconditionally, he loves you completely and he loves you for ever.

Right now he is speaking these words over you: "You are my dearly loved son/daughter, and you bring me great joy."

To Think About:
Do you believe God loves you?  If you have difficulty believing this, ask God to help you to know just how much he loves you.  You may find it helpful to write out some of the verses mentioned above.

How has God demonstrated his love to you?  Read Ephesians 1:3-14 for starters.

What difference does it make to your life when you believe that God loves you with an unconditional, perfect and permanent love?

Vicki

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts

Do You Know You Are God's Prized Possession?

Dear Friends, Do you know that God considers you his prized possession? Maybe you find that hard to believe. You may think that because of what you've done or what's been done to you that you are not special, that you are not worth much. You may have a negative self-image and you may compare yourself with others and believe they are so much better than you. But the truth is that you are so much more than what you think you are. How do I know that? Because that's what the Bible tells me and if I want to know the truth about God and myself I go to the Bible. It's there I learn that being prized by God means that I am treasured, valued, cherished and much loved by him. At the moment I'm reading the book of James, and rather than rush through it I'm taking my time so that I can really feed on it and digest it. It's taken me most of the week to read the first chapter, but it's been a good investment of my time. It's why today I'm writing about
Read more

You Are The Apple of God's Eye

Image
Dear Friends,  When I was a child we would sing a song about having a great, big, wonderful God  who never leaves us and who is ready to catch us when we stumble because we are  the apple of his eye. I used to enjoy singing it and although I never fully understood what it really meant to be  the apple of God's eye, I knew it was connected to God loving me. If you are a similar age to me and grew up in church, you may be familiar with this song too. At the time I never realised that the phrase "the apple of God's eye" came from the Bible. But I was reminded of this song a few weeks ago when I read the following verse in the Bible: Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8  (NIV) The idea of being the apple of God's eye has been on my mind since then, so I decided I wanted to know more about what it means to be the apple of God's eye.  Here's what I learned: The phrase "apple of the eye"
Read more

You are God's Favourite

Image
Dear Friends, I love my children and will sometimes say to them "You are my favourite son/daughter."  The response I usually get from them is a groan or rolling of the eyes and "Mu-um, I'm your only son/daughter."  I tell them, "Yes, but you're still my favourite!"  It's my way of letting them know how much I love them, how precious, how special they are to me.  For me, it's a picture of how I believe God loves each one of us.  He loves me in such a way that he says to me, "You're my favourite!"  And I believe he loves you in such a way too and says "You're my favourite!". God loves each one of us with an incredible, incomparable, unconditional love.  A love that goes beyond the ordinary.  A love that is pure and selfless.  A genuine love.  A love that is beyond our understanding.  He loves us each individually and considers us all his favourite. I love words and I love the word used to describe how Go
Read more

The Apprentice Prayer

Image
Dear Friends, I receive devotional emails from the website "Soul Shepherding".  In one of the emails several months ago Bill Gaultiere shared  "The Apprentice Prayer". I have printed it out and placed it in my journal so I can refer back to it and pray it again.  This is the Apprentice Prayer:  Jesus, I love you! Father, I adore you! Holy Spirit, I rely on you! Lord Jesus, I seek to live as your apprentice in all that I do today. My life is your school for teaching me. I relinquish my agenda for this day and I submit myself to you and your kingdom purposes. In all situations I abandon outcomes to you, praying, “Your will, your way, your time.” Dear Father, I ask you to ordain the events of this day and use them to make me more like Jesus. I trust you, Sovereign Lord, that you won’t let anything happen to my family or me today, except that it passes through your loving hands. So no matter what problems, hardships, or
Read more

The Blessing Of Pain

Dear Friends, I’ve been thinking about pain quite a bit this past week, probably because I’m in the midst of it at the moment!   My close friends and family know that I have been to the National Migraine Clinic (NMC) in London.   Before they can treat the migraines I need to take a 12 week break from all my painkillers.   This is proving difficult as I also rely on painkillers most days to manage & tolerate the muscle pain caused by M.E.   The leg pain in particular has been almost unbearable, sitting, laying on the sofa, in bed, heat treatment, massage mat; none of these things have provided me with much relief. We all experience pain in our lives, the cause of it will be different, the intensity of it varies, but pain is still pain and it hurts!   I don’t enjoy pain and I don’t seek it out, however, God is teaching me that there is blessing in pain.   It’s my experience of this that I want to share with you today that you may be encouraged and blessed too. Alth
Read more

The Teacup Story

Image
If you would like to listen to this devotional please click  here Dear Friends, The Potter's Wheel A couple of weeks back I was reminded about a story I had read a few years ago. It's called "The Teacup Story" but before I share it with you, let's go to the Bible. Jeremiah was one of God's prophets in the Old Testament. He was called by God to pass messages on to God's people. In Jeremiah 18:1-6  we read about an object lesson God gave to Jeremiah and which is still relevant for us today: God told Jeremiah, “Up on your feet! Go to the potter’s house. When you get there, I’ll tell you what I have to say.” So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. Then God’s Message came to me: “Can’
Read more

"God Is Taking Everything Away From Me"

Dear Friends, When I was first diagnosed with M.E (M yalgic Encephalomyelitis)  in the late 1990s I really struggled to come to terms with it. I can remember in the early years and when it was at its worst saying that God was taking everything away from me. This was truly how I felt, and the hurt and the pain from what I was losing was intense. It's a pain which actually cannot fully be put into words. Not only had I lost my health and strength, I had to give up work and I wasn't able to do the things I'd been doing at church, such as leading Sunday School and running a youth group with my husband. Jason and I had married in the Summer of 1995 and the illness meant I wasn't able to do all I wanted to do in the home or to be the kind of wife I wanted to be for Jason and I wasn't able to socialise (for me that meant not going to church and mixing with church friends). It really felt like God was taking everything away from me and like I said, it was extremely pa
Read more

Mary and Elizabeth's Friendship

Dear Friends, Last week we looked at Mary's response to the news Angel Gabriel brought her that she was going to be with child, and that the child would be Jesus, the Saviour of the world.   At the same time, the Angel told her that " your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month." Luke 1:36 (NLT)   I don't know for sure, but I believe that being in the early stages of pregnancy must have been quite a vulnerable time for Mary.  Physical changes within her body, experiencing a variety of emotions and having to cope with people's responses to her news.  It could not have been an easy time for her, and I imagine she must have felt quite alone in it as she had to face the misunderstanding, criticism and judgement from those around her. But she remembered what the Angel had told her about Elizabeth and " 39  A few days later Mary hurried to the hill c
Read more

Set Your Sights on the Realities of Heaven

Image
Dear Friends, Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-3 "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand. 2  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3  For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." (NLT) I read these verses one morning when I was in the middle of a bad spell of migraines.  The spell lasted for ten days.  Some of the days were extremely painful when I just couldn't function normally, some were more bearable and I could live with the pain and some days I woke free from the pain and hoped for a pain-free day only for the migraine to develop later in the day.  I know that some of you reading this will have experienced pain much worse than this.  You may be going through something right now which is almost unbearable.  Whatever that painful experience may be, it's not pleasant!  Whether it's
Read more

Do You Know That God has Tattoos?

Image
Dear Friends, We have framed photos of many of our family, especially our two children, in our home in several of the rooms and Jason also has a photo of Josh and Jess on his desk at work.  Why do we keep these photos visible and not just in an album?  Because our family are precious to us, we love them, they bring us joy and when we see their photos we are reminded of them and how much they mean to us.  They may not be with us all the time, but with the use of photography they are kept close to us. God has an even better way of keeping us, his children, in his thoughts.  It says in Isaiah 49:16 " See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands." (NLT).  Just spend a few moments dwelling on this verse - God has written my name, Vicki, he's written your name, on the palm of his hand.  Why would he do that?  I believe it's because he loves us so much that he wants us ever before him.  We are precious to him, he cares about us, he's interested in the th
Read more