God's Love

A few years ago, when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with too many problems and not enough solutions, I wondered if God really loved me and cared about what I was going through. We perceive “care” in different ways from each other and maybe in different ways at different times, but it’s usually in the context of our cultural view of “caring” or “love,” which really should include, for true comfort, the element of “warm fuzzies.” I just wasn’t feeling either warmth or fuzziness from God at the time.

So I took a poll. That’s the American Way, isn’t it? I went to several of the spiritually mature ladies in our church and asked them how they perceive God’s love in their lives. One said He gives her what she needs. She did, indeed have all needs met. Another said He sends others to give her words of comfort. I observed to myself that this is a woman famous among us for giving words of comfort to others. These two summed up all the answers together – things, friends, words.

But I still didn’t feel warm in my then-current situation, and the only “fuzzy” was in the dryer filter.

Finally, in desperation, I asked what should have been the first question. What does God say? How does He perceive His love in our lives? I was a bit caught off guard by the answer(s), as were the people who asked questions of Jesus when He was here. He always gave a bigger answer than we were focused on with our little questions.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. I Jn 4:9

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. I Jn 4:10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Eph. 2:4,5

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I Jn 3:16

Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph 5:2

Hereby perceive we the love of God… Well, yes, I knew all those verses. Somehow they seem to get compartmentalized in our minds as “provision,” not particularly the warm fuzzy kind of “love.” But this is what God keeps saying over and over – this is His expression of love. The big picture is more important, by far, than all our smaller concerns. Could He love us any more than to provide for our eternal security and happiness by making for us a future with Him? And yes, He also cares about those other concerns, as Jesus told us in his remarks about lilies and sparrows. His love is so much more magnificent than what I thought I was looking for!

--Lynda Shenefield