THE LOVE OF GOD

He loves us ... but why?

It's certainly not because we deserve it. If anything, the opposite is true. The 'inner man' is so corrupted by sin that we willfully rebel against God at every turn. Our fallen nature refuses to acknowledge just how depraved we really are ... The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9) 

It is a solemn and sweeping indictment ... There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; none does good, no, not one. (Romans 3:10-12) 

How then is it possible for a holy, righteous, and perfect God to love such undeserving creatures? The Bible is unequivocal on the fact that He does ... 

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. (John 3:16)

God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

But the question remains ... why?

Never was a more important declaration made than this ... God is love. (1 John 4:8) The answer to 'why' is found in those three words. Love is not merely something God 'does'. 

Love cannot help but flow unabated from His throne, for it is the 'essence' of His being. 

It is that selfless, unconditional, sacrificial love that drove Him to take action ... This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Don't stumble over the question of 'why' God loves you. Those who wrestle with it think they must somehow 'earn' that privilege. Your devotion to Him should be the evidence of His love for you, not the way you receive it.