Look – God loves his people, no strings attached

He loves me. He loves me not.

We need not pull petals from a flower to answer the question, “Does God love me?”

No matter who you are, no matter what is happening to you, no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done, the truth remains: He loves you.

On this day of candies, cards and all things love, Americans will spend an estimated $15 billion to celebrate the spirit of St. Valentine. So let us spend another precious commodity – just a few moments of our time today – to celebrate the love of God.

But first we’ll acknowledge the obvious: At times we doubt God’s love.

I met a young man not too long ago who’s made quite a mess of things in his life. In remorse and self-recrimination, he’s convinced himself God simply cannot love him.

Others doubt God’s love because they feel intensely that he’s dealt them a bad hand: How can a loving God allow cancer, fatal car wrecks and the world’s countless sufferings?

We sometimes doubt God’s love when we fail, when we endure circumstances we do not want, and when we suffer.

Here is an incredible truth to cling to in such times: “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 8:38-39 – NLT).

Who was so convinced of God’s love? The Apostle Paul, who lived with the knowledge that he once persecuted Christians, who later endured beatings, shipwreck and slander, all for the cause of Christ.

Paul understood that the ultimate love – God’s love for us – is not rooted in our merit, diminished by our circumstances or even validated by our feelings. No, incredibly, the love of God is rooted solely in the nature of God himself.

The Apostle John puts it more succinctly: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love” (1 John 4:6 – NIV).

Did you catch that last part? God is not merely loving. God is love.

It is the nature of love to give. That’s why children give each other cartoon valentines and we adults give chocolates and roses.

Love yearns to be expressed. Love gives.

Love’s ultimate gift is life itself: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13 – NKJV).

God’s love for us is expressed in many ways: the gifts of sunsets, friendships and freedoms. But love’s peak expression is the death of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, necessitated by our separation from our creator by sin.

Do you not marvel at the love of God for you? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 – NASB).

The very things that cause us to question God’s love are inarguable proofs that we live in a sin-stained world. Yet it is a world that is passing away. And the hope of heaven – life as God really intends for it to be – is ours when we accept his gift of love.

Yes, it is human nature to let failures and hardships cause us to wonder and waver: He loves me. He loves me not.

Today, go ahead and enjoy the assurance that the question is forever settled: God loves you.