Years ago, when I was about to be ordained, I was asked what I thought the biggest problem facing the church was. I gave this question some thought and what I kept coming back to was: Do we believe that God loves us?
Whenever I ask someone this question the response is usually a less than convincing yes. I think we all want to believe that God loves us but because our lives are not perfect, because we struggle from time to time, we can begin to wonder if God does indeed love us. We know that God is good, we hear that God’s plan for us is for extraordinariness, but life just seems so hard. We can agree with the observation of St. Theresa of Avila who remarked that “if this is the way you treat your friends Lord, is it any wonder you have so few.”
We would like our relationship with God to be all sunshine and roses. We would like the love of God to be constantly affirming us, constantly building us up, and constantly making our lives easy. After all isn’t this what love does? Doesn’t love just ignore the rough edges and the bad decisions in favor of keeping the peace at all costs? Isn’t love all about what feels good and what makes the other feel good?
Sadly, a lot of people believe that this is what love is. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we know better. We know that sometimes love challenges us. Challenges us to move beyond our comfort zone, challenges us to rethink our decisions, challenges us to change our entire life. We know that true love is not about how one feels but is instead a commitment, through word and deed, to will and work for the good of the other. Ultimately, for followers of Jesus Christ, love is the attitude we have, the work that we do, the gift that we give, and the way of life that we choose.
So, when we think about whether God loves us, we should care less about how we feel and more about where we are headed. We should ask ourselves if we are engaging in activities that lead us to holiness or doing stuff that makes us feel good , or fit in, or simply just gives us pleasure. Often enough if we are pursuing validation or happiness in worldly things, we may very well lose sight of the source of all love. Like the old song says we are probably looking for love in all the wrong places…
“For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son into the world.”(Jn 3:16) With these words, John the Evangelist reveals to us the length and breadth of God’s love for us. Indeed, when we consider who Jesus is, he is God in the flesh and thus love in the flesh, we can begin to probe the depths of God’s love for us.
He sent his Son to the world not to get rid of the law but to fulfill it. Jesus teaches us that following the law is not meant to burden us but to set us free. The law allows us to live as we ought, to pursue what is good for us, and live with one another in peace. Teaching us this is an act of love.
It is Jesus, who teaches us that all the law is summed up in the love of God and of our neighbor. In this lesson Jesus encourages us to remember that each of us, created in the image and likeness of God is valuable and has dignity and thus is worthy of our respect and love. In this lesson we learn that mercy is more important than judgement and forgiveness more important than revenge. Calling us to love is an act of love.
“No greater love does one have than to lay down their life for a friend.”(Jn 15:13) Jesus teaches this both in word and action. His condescension from heaven, his miracles, his passion, death, and resurrection are all acts of love that reveal to us that God’s love for us has no limits.
So next time we are wondering whether God loves us we need only think about Jesus. We need only consider the sacrifices he made, the challenges he issued, the miracles he accomplished to see to what extent God will go to prove his love for us. If we are doubting God’s love for us because our lives are a mess or difficult, we need only look to the cross of Christ to see how Jesus’s messy death was all about bringing hope, healing, and wholeness, and holiness to his disciples who are struggling.
I am reminded of another song lyric that may date me, but nonetheless is appropriate for this moment, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden, along with the sunshine there has to be a little rain sometime…” God’s love is a sure thing, in fact it is one of the few sure things we can count on in this life. But it is not an easy thing, it requires each of us to open hearts and minds, in good times and bad, when we need to be held and when we need to be challenged, when we have done what we were supposed to do and when we have missed the mark, to the good news that God so loves us that he sent us Jesus who is love in the flesh.