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God's Love
I was talking to a young man about God the other day and I asked him if he thought his father loved him. The evidence was all there that his father loved him. All through his life his father and mother had cared and looked after him perfectly. So he agreed that his father loved him dearly.
I then asked him whether God loved him. He replied that he didn’t deserve it.
He just didn't feel that he was worthy of God's love. He'd heard it said many times that "God loves you" and "Jesus loves you" but to him it just didn't sound true somehow.
That’s the problem I suppose. We sometimes feel that we don’t deserve God’s love. That somehow we can’t live up to His expectations. That whatever we do we’ll fall short of what is needed to be loved by God.
I believe this is the wrong way to view God and His love for us. Let’s be clear about one thing. God does not need anything from us. He doesn’t need our prayers, the candles we light in Church, repetitions of the rosary or anything else. There is nothing we can do to earn His love.
He just loves us unconditionally – full stop. It isn’t a question of deserving His love, or bargaining for His love by saying a special prayer, or going to Church for a set period, or whatever other conditions we might invent in our mind.
He just loves us because He created us. He loves everyone of us the same way. He has no favourites or specials.
Imagine going to a pet shop and buying a small puppy. You’d certainly look after him, feed him and care for him as best you can. Because he is yours, you bought him and you love him.
How much more do you think your creator loves you? He doesn’t need any conditions or bargaining chips in order to love you.
If, like the young man I was speaking to, you feel you don’t deserve His love it’s perhaps because you judge yourself too harshly. Or maybe you feel guilty about something you’ve done. Ask for His forgiveness earnestly and you’ll feel an inner peace that proves He loves you.
© Copyright V Moubarak 2007