Genesis 1-3

Matthew 1

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:35, 37

If there is one thing that we can hold onto throughout this year—in every moment of our life—it is the truth that God loves us. In fact, He is the One who loved us first as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because He first loved us.” While we were living in sin, in rebellion, in conflict, as enemies of God once, God pursued each one of us in love. 

When we say the gospel changes everything, we mean the good news that God loves us, saves us, and reconciles us is the supernatural news that we can hold onto no matter what happens in our lives. When we gather on Sunday for worship, it is not out of religious regurgitation or exercise but a response to God’s love. Because He first loved us, we sing, read Scripture, listen to the teachings of God and pray.

No matter what we have done in our lives, God loves us. He knows everything about our life, even the things that we try to hide behind somewhere, or sweep it under a rug or tuck away in our closet. Many of us are afraid that if people knew everything about our lives, our thoughts, our feelings and our actions—things that we do when no one sees us—that we would be unlovable. But God knows everything about us and He is still there, still pursuing after us.

How can we be sure of this? The psalmist writes, “You have searched me, LORD, and You know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue You, LORD, know it completely” (Psalm 139:1-4). Could we imagine a person knowing us to this level of intimacy? No one knows us completely, not our parents, our spouse or our kids, but God does. 

In Timothy Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God, he writes, “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

The truth that God loves us changes everything in our lives. No matter what happens in our day, may we never forget that God first loved us. 

PRAYER: Almighty God, I cannot fathom the depth of how much You know me and yet You still love. Help me never to forget this truth for all time—that I am loved by the Creator God of this universe. Thank You, Lord!