How Much Does God Love You?
July 21, 2015
Devotions:
How much does our Heavenly Father love us? How much is He willing to be intimately active in our day to day lives? The answer is found all over the Bible.
"“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:14-18 KJV
Here we see that Jesus likens Himself to the bronze serpent on the pole that Moses raised up in Numbers 21: 9 even so He must be lifted up. The serpent is a type of satan as we see from Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve sin against God at the beckoning of satan. The serpent on the pole was bronze which is always the metal representing judgement. So Jesus was saying that He would become our sin which we received through Adam, and be judged for that sin in our place so we could have eternal life and come into relationship with our Heavenly Father. God loves us so much that He willingly took all our punishment in Jesus that we might be set free.
In the story of the wayward son in Luke 15, when the son gets his fill of the pig slop that he has been feeding on and believes that he could get a better deal with his father, even though he has dishonored him. He returns home.
"“So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].” Luke 15:20 AMP
Jesus is painting a picture of our Heavenly Father's unconditional acceptance of us even when we have sinned, if we will just return to Him He will welcome us with open arms.
Matthew 7 when Jesus is teaching on prayer, He ends with the statement that if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our sons, how much more shall not the Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask. Our Father's love is a how much more kind of love.
"“What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] [Ps. 118:6.] He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?” Romans 8:31-32 AMP
How much do you think God loves you?