Lavish Love

IN WORD

God loves us. We know that, don’t we? We sing about it, tell each other about it, and even quote well-known verses about how He is love and how He so loved the world that He gave His only Son. The love of God is foundational to our faith because it explains why Jesus died for us and motivates us to demonstrate His love to those around us. The two greatest commandments are about loving God and loving others. Clearly, we are saturated in the love of God—aren’t we?

Truth is, we’re more convinced of God’s love for others than for ourselves. We can say “God loves you” to any hurting, broken person, but when we’re hurting and broken, we wonder why we feel so abandoned by Him. Many hear an internal voice that says, “Yes, but…” after every declaration of God’s love. “Yes, but He has to. That’s His job description. God loves everyone.” Or “Yes, He may love me, but I don’t think He likes me very much.” As much as we declare God’s love, most of us are insecure in it anyway.

Insecurity with God shows up in a lot of ways. Perhaps we don’t want to bother Him with “the small things.” Or maybe we think our desires don’t matter to Him. Maybe we ask for a hundred confirmations when we think we might possibly have heard His voice—because we just can’t believe He might be speaking to us. Whatever the manifestation, the insecurity is real. And we have to learn to get over it.

IN DEED

Sensing God’s love—fully accepting it, breathing it, swimming in it—is foundational to God’s Kingdom. Why? Because it’s the truest expression of His nature. He lavishes love on those who come to Him. His children are precious to Him. If we live as Kingdom citizens, royal heirs, children of the Most High, we have to live not from a place of fear or insecurity but from full confidence of His delight in us. You aren’t worthy of it, you say? Of course you aren’t. No one is. That’s the gospel. He loves anyway. Accept that, and your faith will swell. And that changes everything.