Could God Possibly Love Me?

Could God Possibly Love Me?

“God couldn’t possibly love me.  And if you knew the things I’d done, you wouldn’t like me much either.  The fact is, I feel deep shame for what I’ve done.  I’ve messed up, I feel guilty, worthless….”

Recently, we presented this statement to our Sunday evening group for 16-25 year olds (Dig Deeper). We asked the group how they would answer the question and we looked at what the Bible has to say to someone who feels like this.  We discovered that there were two really important things that we wanted to say about God which were relevant to the question.

  1. God is Holy

We discovered that the word “holy” means that God is pure, worthy of awe and honour, completely different to us so that you “cannot approach him like an ordinary friend or enemy” (John Frame).  This fact is true about God, however we feel about ourselves.  None of us deserve to be loved by God.  When we discover what God is like, each one of us should admit that we have messed up, that we are guilty and that we feel shame for the things we have said, thought and done.

  1. God is love

The Bible tells us that love is an essential attribute of God’s character.  We see his love clearly displayed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  In the person of Jesus, God acted in history to take away our guilt and shame by bearing the penalty for all the wrong things we have done.  God’s love means that it is possible for us to have a relationship with Him, to receive new life and to be declared righteous.  The Bible tells us that God offers this new life as a free gift; we do not deserve it and we cannot earn it.  We must simply receive it.

What about you?

I wonder if you sometimes identify with the statement that we started with.  There may be things that have happened in your life, things you have done or things done to you that you feel too embarrassed and ashamed to talk about. 

Would you like to find out more about the God who loves us despite the mess in our lives, despite the wrong that we have done, even against him and who offers healing, forgiveness and new life?  If so, why not pop into one of the events or activities at the Chapel?

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