The Proof of God's Love For You
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
Growing up while having a father as a constant presence in my life wasn't an experience I had, I was blessed to have the strong love of a mother, my grandparents, siblings, my aunts, uncles, cousins, the list goes on and on. My grandparents, who I called Oma and Opa, were particularly an active part of my life and always a constant presence. Whether it was birthdays, special occasions, school events, holidays, sports games, they always showed up. I think the only hockey game my Oma ever showed interest in is one that either myself or one of her other grandchildren were playing in. They were there in the good times and a constant support in the bad. I never once questioned their love for me, but there was a moment years after they had both passed away that showed me again just how much they loved me.
My Oma passed away in 2003 and after my Opa passed away in 2015, the family went through the difficult task of emptying out their home. When we did, a box was found in their closet that had my name on it. Inside of this box was every single card or drawing or piece of paper I had ever given them. Ever. From the bon voyage card I drew by hand at age five, to the birthday poem I had composed as a teenager, to the copy of the Canadian flag I had drawn for my Opa for Remembrance Day in 1996, to the thank you card I had painted thanking them for buying me a set of blopens (yes that really was a thing for children in the 90’s), to the get well card I drew for my Oma when she was about to undergo cancer surgery, they kept it all. Not kept it in a dusty cellar somewhere, forgotten with the passing of time, but kept alongside their most precious possessions. Painstakingly gathered over decades, with not one card or letter missing. A true culmination of a lifetime of love.
If there ever was a moment in the future where I could ever think of questioning their love for me, that box will always tell the story.
The Proof of God's Love
Maybe you’ve been blessed to know a love like that from a parent or friend or relative or spouse. Or maybe you haven’t been blessed to know that kind of love here on earth yet. But just like that box for me tells the entire story of how much my grandparents loved and treasured and valued me, I know of the proof of someone’s love who does love and treasure and value you. That person is God, your creator, and the proof of his love is found in Jesus Christ.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 1 John 4:9-10
The same God who created you and knit you together in your mothers womb with the utmost care is the same God who loves you so much that He sent His beloved Son into the world to lay down His life for us and make the ultimate sacrifice in our place.
Jesus’ life and death shows us the depth of God’s love for you and for me. That’s the proof. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, what family you come from, what kind of life you’ve lived, or even how you feel about yourself, God loves you.
Let’s listen in on what God has to say from His Word, the Bible. And as I read these verses out, remember we are talking about who God is and how He loves you.
Oh How He Loves Us
But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15 NLT
Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. Deuteronomy 7:9 NLT
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7
These verses give us a small glimpse into the depth of the love that God has for you. It doesn’t matter what your past is, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the debt. The Bible makes it abundantly clear in the next couple verses of Ephesians 2 that if you believe, you receive this incredible gift of love from God. Picking up at verse 8:
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10
The invitation
The invitation to be a masterpiece is here for the taking, a gift ready to be received. Maybe the canvas of your life looks so far from a masterpiece that you think it is beyond repair, but that’s not true. God does His best work in the messiest of circumstances and the same God who paints the sky night after night with one stunning sunset after another, can take your canvas and turn it into something truly beautiful. The proof of his love is in Jesus and a life of love transformed by Him is ready for you if you believe and receive. As we're told in the book of Romans, you don't need to clean up your life first or find a way to make yourself worthy of God's love. You just need to accept it by believing in it and declaring it.
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. Romans 10:9-10
If you have put this off, don’t wait any longer. When you allow the same God who raised Christ from the dead to come in and change your life, you will never be the same again. You will know what it means and how it feels to be loved by the God of heaven and earth and there is no greater love.
What the bible has to say about love
Closing off with what the Bible has to say about the love of God in Romans 8:35-39:
Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. [No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
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