the Wonder of Being His Beloved

We all want to be loved. We were created to love and be loved. In this world though, being loved can be tough at times. It can lead to hurt and that can lead to us trying to manage or alleviate that hurt.

After reading Francis Chan’s book, Beloved, recently I have been thinking more about the amazing love of God. We talk about it a lot. We even sing about it even more: The Love of God, And Can It Be (Amazing Love), Amazing Grace, How He Loves, Reckless Love, How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, and so many more. I found myself wondering if beyond our words and songs, do we really believe and embrace God’s great love for us in our daily lives?

Throughout Scripture there are countless verses about God’s great love for us. This article might become unbearably long if I even attempted to list them all, but here are a few examples:

“The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.’” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience;” (Colossians 3:12)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

From the Old Testament, we see God’s faithful love for His children, the Israelites, and His desire for them to be in relationship with Him. In the New Testament, we see Him send His beloved Son to pay the price for our sin and make the restoration of our relationship with Him possible once and for all. We also see that His love wasn’t just for a specific group of people or even the whole of humanity. Although both of these are true, His love is so much more.

His love is for me, personally. It is for you, personally. Jesus died on the cross out of love for all humanity, and out of love for you and out of love for me. God loves and wants a relationship with each and everyone of us.

When I stop and think about His love in this way, it is staggering. He loves me that much. When I think of all that Jesus went through out of His love for me it is shocking. When I think of the great lengths that God has gone to and His patience and persistence in loving me it’s astounding. He loves you in that way too.

As if all of that isn’t enough, unlike our flawed, fallen human love, God’s love is perfect. Though we will go through and experience hurt, His love for us is secure. We will not experience hurt from His love. Instead we can run to Him with our hurts and He will weep and mourn with us while comforting, sustaining and healing us.

Even as I write these words, I am blown away at just how little I seem to understand about the depths of His love for me. I am challenged that I don’t spend nearly enough time dwelling on and appreciating His love. I am reminded of what waits for me as I abide in Him and enjoy the love that He gives so abundantly.

I hope that you will join me in taking time to fully embrace and abide in His great love for each of us today.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5)