In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul prays that Christ would dwell in their hearts so that they would “have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19) You’ve probably tried to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, but do you KNOW that He loves you?
I can tell you with 100% confidence that I love Jesus. I know in my heart that this is true. I love to sing songs about Him, to worship Him, and to spend time with Him. But to an objective observer of my life, there’s a lot of evidence that would indicate that I DON’T love Him. I let Him down quite a bit. I don’t do what He wants me to. I get distracted by other things and forget about Him from time to time. But despite what it looks like, I KNOW that I love the Lord.
I really struggle with knowing that Jesus loves me. It’s just hard for me to confidently accept that truth. And this is despite the fact that He has never let me down. He has never failed to come through for me. He never gets distracted from me but He rejoices over me with singing (Zeph. 3:17). He has saved me and redeemed me and He did those things by suffering torture and dying a brutal death for me. He died for me, but I have a hard time believing that He loves me…
The failure to understand this truth has real ramifications in my life. I live with a lot of fear, but if Jesus loves me there is no reason to fear anything. (1 John 4:18) I do a lot of things trying to earn His love or favor – but He loves me even in my sin. (Rom. 5:8) All kinds of stress and defeat in my life disappear when I am convinced of Jesus’ deep abiding love for me. (1 Peter 5:7)
So how do I take hold of this wonderful truth? The song says, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It’s not quite that simple for me, but it is simply a matter of believing it. Having faith in what God’s Word says. In the verse I started with, Paul indicates that the Spirit of God living in us helps us with this knowledge.
So believe it – Jesus loves you and me!
Here’s a song I will be leading in a couple of weeks. It’s an old hymn that reminds me of God’s great love and how He has shown it to me.
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