God's love for you

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Do you believe that God loves you? What if I told you that God's love for you and for all of humanity is the truest and most palpable thing that exists. God does not have love, but God is love. In reality, from the beginning, Man was created to be loved and to love in return. God desired you and He still desires you. He desires a relationship with you, He desires you to accept His love for you in order to transform and change you.
If you have read my book on "My Journey to Please the Heart of the King", you know that I was born into a believing family, so the Bible verses were not unknown to me. This passage from John 3:16, I have followed it more than once, yet it is only a short time since I grasped it. It is possible that you too have already heard it or read it but have not yet grasped it. From the little experience that I have, people do not grasp the love of God for three main reasons: the first reason is that they are angry with God for what they have experienced and they say to themselves: "Where was He when I needed Him?", the second reason is that they feel too dirty because of the sins that they may have committed and tell themselves that they are not worthy of Him and the third reason is simply ignorance due to all the confusion created around religion. Today in this article we will talk about the first reason. You will find the other two articles also available on the site.

Where was He when I needed Him?
Most of us were born into a family (of the same blood or not), but we did not have the same story. I do not know you and I do not know the childhood you had, but what I do know is that your childhood contributed to the person you have become. You have surely had challenges, sadness and disappointments. Life may not have been very kind to you and your physical and moral scars still remind you of this painful past that you have lived or that perhaps you are still living.
I have long heard this phrase: “Where was God when this was happening? If He exists, then why does He let these things happen?” But I would like to ask all those who ask this question: “Did you call Him?” Usually when a violation of justice occurs, the inmate is assigned a lawyer, and the lawyer has the duty to defend him as long as he is in his employ. However, the inmate has the option of firing his lawyer and getting another one. Did you take God as your lawyer or did you throw Him out of your life? No matter how much he wants to, a fired lawyer cannot do anything for his client and God cannot do anything for you if you do not resort to Him. On the other hand, you cannot be Cameroonian and live in Cameroon and blame the President of Brazil if your salary has not been paid. What do I mean by that? First, make sure that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven if you want to claim any rights. Does this mean that God has no regard for those who are not Christians? No! However, a person who is not a Christian may be under different laws that he himself is unaware of and that work against him. This is why Christ came to free the captives and to send the oppressed free, but if we decide to reject him, how do we hope to experience this freedom. Does this mean that Christians do not suffer? Oh yes! But we suffer with a hope that the world does not have.

Many have rejected God as their advocate and have become their own defenders. Are you one of them? You have decided to live your life far from God and you try to justify Him by what happens in the world, when in reality you are just trying to hide the fact that you have not really sought to know Him. You are aware deep down that God is not responsible for what happens, but we have to be angry with someone, we have to justify the hatred we have. To better understand the actions of God, what He does and what He does not do, we must begin by knowing Him. Yes, God is powerful, yes, He is love, but for Him to act in your life you would first have to desire it.
"But all these injustices, these deaths, these rapes, these robberies..." I can assure you that God's heart is sad when He sees all these things, He would like as much as you if not more, that things change, that the man He created pure in the Garden of Eden, returns to his innocence. Jesus Christ is the symbol of this will that God has to change the world. Jesus Christ is the proof of God's infinite love for humanity. But one problem remains: does humanity really want to be saved? God says to you: "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil... choose life..." (Deut. 30:15; 19) God's wish is that we all choose good, however, we must also desire it so that the Light can reign in the midst of darkness.

Don’t try to fight God and His love for you, because yes, God loves you. He loves you so much and would love for you to be saved, not only from sin, but from all forms of pain, sadness, and despair. Despite what you have been through so far, know that God can and wants to restore you. He is the shoulder ready to support you, He is the Handkerchief ready to wipe away your tears, He is the Arm ready to embrace you. Today He says to you, “Behold, I stand at your door and knock. If you will hear My voice and open the door, I will come in and will sup with you, and you with Me” (Revelation 3:20). God wants to start a new chapter with you, a chapter where you are not alone facing the world but where you are together in the love, peace and happiness that comes from the change He is about to bring about in your life if you accept Him as your Lord and Savior.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

I am not worthy of Him
We often wrongly believe that God judges us in the same way as men. A few years ago, I was watching a program with my little sister and we saw a man in prison praying. My younger sister, surprised by what he was praying, said (speaking of the man in question): "Why is he praying when he has already finished sinning? Does he want to be released so he can go do the same things again?" Surprised, I turned to her and said: "You know Jesus Christ did not come for the righteous but for the unrighteous." (Mark 2:17) Unfortunately and unconsciously, man tends to judge easily. However, my sister did not know the life of this man, she did not know what he had been through and how he had gotten there, but she just knew that he was in prison and that he deserved what was happening to him.

Each of us has a past, something we are not necessarily proud of. You may have met these people who condemned you without even knowing you, but I have good news for you, Jesus will not do the same with you because His love is not for condemnation but for healing. The healing of your pain and your wounds. The Bible tells us in the book of Romans 5:8 that God shows us his love in that he died for us while we were still sinners. May the awareness of sin not distance you from God but bring you closer to Him so that He transforms you. For a long time we have been given a concept of God according to which to come to Him you had to be Holy, but that does not make sense. It is as if you tell a sick person that to go to the doctor you have to be healed. We do not go to God because we are Saints, we go to Him so that He makes us Saints.

Ezekiel 18:23 “Do you think that I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” asks the Lord GOD. “Is it not my desire that he turn from his wicked way and live?” Understand that God does not want you to die or go to hell. All He wants from you is for you to finally turn to Him and decide to entrust your life to Him, to abandon yourself completely to Him and let Him work in you. Throughout your childhood you grew up with the idea that love is earned. You have to do something to deserve attention, presence, love. You were told that you were not good enough, that you were not trying hard enough, that you were not worthy. But Jesus tells you that He loved you so much that He gave His life for you. He gave his life to save you from sin, from fear, from anguish, from hatred, from sadness, from anger, from lack of self-confidence… Do not refuse his love.
So if today you are ready to let yourself be loved by God, go into His presence and let your heart adore Him and your mouth praise Him. Be abundantly blessed.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Ignorance
I found myself specifically in this particular part. Indeed, it is not easy to be born into a world filled with different mentalities and religious perceptions regarding the subject of religion. Although as I often say, I do not consider the relationship I have with Christ as a religion, but as a relationship, I think that before I had my encounter with Christ, religion was just a series of information that did not mean much to me. The theoretical awareness of God's love seemed beautiful to me, but nothing more. I did not see a connection between Him and me, so I simply lived my life. But the Bible says that he who is forgiven little loves little and he who is forgiven much loves much (read Luke 7:36-50). So if you are aware of Christ's love for you, you understand that not only has He forgiven you much, but in return you will also want to love Him much. So the first thing is the awareness of our sins, of the solution that Christ is to the sin that makes us captive and finally of a life of consecration that we live in return as a reasonable sacrifice such as Paul can say in Romans 12:1.

The main reason why we live in ignorance is because we have not had an encounter. I invite you therefore to have this encounter which will change your perception of the love of Christ and how you will love Him in return. How to meet Him? His word declares that if we seek Him with all our heart, He will let Himself be found by us (Jeremiah 29:13). Ignorance is very dangerous because it keeps us in a prison so we are not aware. Ignorance is also the result of our lack of thirst to know God. We are comfortable in our lives and we only call on God to blame Him for our misfortunes. However, the Bible says that eternal life is to know Him, the only true God (John 17:3). Knowing God and His love for us, will produce life in us. This eternal life which is not limited to a few years on earth.