Sometimes I ask my husband if he loves me.

Thankfully, I already know the answer.

Sometimes I ask because I just want to hear him say the words. Gives me warm fuzzies.

Sometimes I ask because we haven’t connected on a deep level in a couple days and I just want to open up the channels.

Doesn’t matter if you hear it every day. Doesn’t matter if it’s shown in acts of kindness or smiles or encouraging words.

You can never hear enough that you are loved.

I read somewhere it is estimated God tells us He loves us around… infinite times in the Bible. Yes. Because God is love.

Did you know we were created to be objects of His love?

Yup. The whole reason you and I exist is so that God can love us.

How do I know this?

1. God is Love.
2. God exists in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are eternally and infinitely loving each other.
3. God said, “Let us make man in our image.”
4. God created us to participate in Divine Love because the image of God is the image of Love.

Wow. Please don’t rush past that. This is way too deep and way too awesome and much too wonderful to skim.

God’s love is sure, people. Look at creation. Look at His patience with the Israelites. Look at Christ’s sacrifice. Look at His patience with us.

We can know beyond a doubt that He loves us. Always. Certain.

Do you always feel it, though? Aren’t there days when God seems distant, when you haven’t connected, haven’t felt His embrace, haven’t seen His smile? Aren’t there days when you’ve messed up so bad you can’t even bring yourself to ask Him for forgiveness? Aren’t there days when you look at all the awful stuff in the world and the crummy stuff in your own life and just think He must be taking a break?

I do. And these feelings are not new to planet earth.

Take a look.


Why do I doubt His love? Take hope, soul. Because you praised Him and rejoiced in Him once, and you will do it again. Love always trusts.

Love is patient, love is kind.
1 Corinthians 13:4a

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23a

We sang a song in church this morning stating that God is good; all He does is for His glory.

Which got me thinking. When we doubt God’s goodness, we doubt His glory. If He is not good, He is not worthy of praise. By His own definition, goodness, kindness, and love – these are honorable in the sight of God. These are part of what make Him glorious, majestic, worthy of honor.

It is easy to see God’s kindness when things go well. I went skiing yesterday and didn’t break any bones. I thanked God for the kindness He showed me in protecting me from injury.

Yet when my husband went skiing a few years ago, he broke his leg. Was God unkind then? I could argue God was extremely kind to me in that instance because Randell’s broken leg was part of what led him to notice and fall in love with me. But on a serious note, we could call into question the kindness of God’s love when bad things happen.

Again, we have to understand what kindness is and what love is. And who God is. Because unlike you and I, He is never inconsistent. Even if I love you, I am going to be unkind to you from time to time because I am stuck in this fallen body with temptation to be selfish. God, however, will never be unkind because He is Love. And Love is Kind. God is Kind.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33b

Once again, I don’t understand why God’s kindness seems to show itself differently in the hard places of life. Once again, we are not promised ease. Once again, we are promised He is transcendent over our pain, and we are promised that He will show us lovingkindness.

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus 3:4-7

And once again, when I look at the cross, all I can see is the lovingkindness of God. He did not abandon us in our sin. Jesus Christ bore all the wrath of God against sin in His body at Calvary (1 Peter 2:24). And we can now be called sons of God, because the Father has adopted us as His own (Ephesians 1:5).

Is there anything more kind than giving your life for someone? Is there anything kinder than adoption?

We are called to be kind as He is, for His glory. The world sees Christ through our reflection of Him. Our unkindness mars His image. Our kindness magnifies Him.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32

Ever heard the saying, “Kill him with kindness?” The idea is to be kind to people, even your enemies, so they will be utterly confused and (possibly) stop hurting you. I’m not sure this actually works that often with people, but we are called to be kind regardless of the outcome.

Whether kindness stops the pain in our lives, I do know one thing for sure: Kindness kills the enemy. God killed the power of the enemy by defeating death with the kindness of Christ on the cross. We can follow the example of our heavenly Father and kill the enemy’s plans for us and our relationships by fighting with lovingkindness.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

“Who wrote the book of love?” asked The Monotones over 50 years ago. And while we’re still asking why relationships seem to be so complicated, we do have answers to a different kind of book of love.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

God is love. Love never fails. So God never fails. And His love never fails.

Why, then, did I get an Amber Alert on my phone just before 2 a.m. this morning?

Why, then, did a servant-hearted brother-in-Christ pass away unexpectedly Sunday?

Why, then, do millions perish apart from Christ?

It sure looks like failure. It sure looks like God’s love just isn’t strong enough.

You know why God’s love never fails? It’s because He never fails to lovingly keep all His promises. And He didn’t fail to lovingly give all those promises in the first place.

We weren’t promised an end to injustice in this life. But we were promised a mighty Rock of refuge in the midst of crashing waves (Psalm 18:2). And we were promised new heavens and a new earth that will submit to the loving, perfect justice of the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 21).

We weren’t promised every happiness and ease and health in this life (John 16:33). But we were promised a Comforter to pass through the fire with us (John 14:16, Isaiah 43:2). And we were promised perfect healing and joy in eternity in the presence of our Savior (Revelation 21).

We weren’t promised that everyone would be saved. But we were promised a Savior who made a way for everyone (Romans 10:13, John 3:16). And we were promised a patient God who desires that none would perish (2 Peter 3:9).

It grieves my heart that children are abducted, that loved ones die, that souls go to hell. But it grieves the heart of my God even more (Isaiah 53).

I don’t know why my all-powerful God does not intervene in these situations. I wish He would. Yet we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). When I see what Christ did on the cross for me, I cannot doubt the perfect, unfailing power of God’s love. I will cling to the cross as I trust and obey, knowing that Almighty God died for me.

God’s love is unconditional; there is no one He does not love. It doesn’t matter whether we believe in Him or trust in Christ for salvation; God still loves us.

We can see God’s love is the author of salvation in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God has loved every person throughout all of history, even before Christ made a way for salvation.

God’s unconditional love is not what saves us, however. Salvation has one condition: Christ alone. “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9) The Bible is clear that it is only through the blood of Christ that we can be saved.

It is at this point we find the unconditional love of God such good news. Because He loves us all through no merit of our own, He has made a way for every single person, no matter how bad or how good we think we are, to spend eternity with Him. He places no conditions on who enters the gate (Christ). Instead, He repeats throughout Scripture that anyone, everyone, all people who cry out to Jesus Christ for salvation will be saved!

The reason salvation must be conditional is because there is no one who is holy enough to meet God’s standards. Yet He loves us anyway! He sent Christ to meet His standards for us because He loves us that much!

The Bible tells a story that illustrates the unconditional and saving love of God so beautifully.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
John 8:3-11

Adultery is a heartbreaking, unholy thing to God. Yet Jesus showed this woman such love and grace. When He told her, “Go now and leave your life of sin,” He was offering her salvation. She could not, of course, have gone and lived a sinless life. None of us can because we are inherently sinful as a result of the Fall (Genesis 3). But through Christ, she could have the power to overcome sin that had once entangled her, and she would be holy in the eyes of God.

God loves you so much. He wants to show you just how much healing and joy and peace His love will bring. Don’t keep running from Him. There’s nothing you can do to earn His love; it’s already yours. Believe that Christ’s sacrifice is necessary for you, no matter how good you think you are. Believe that Christ’s sacrifice is enough for you, no matter how bad you think you are.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9