Dedicated To Those Who Feel Unloved

     So life hits you head on, and it does not seem like you can feel God anywhere.  As a matter of fact, you kind of feel unloved.  What's up with that?  You feel unloved?  Hmmm?  Can anything really cause you to BE unloved by God?
 
     Here are some things to think about: What if you have some tribulations coming down on you and life is really tough?  Can that separate you from the God's love?  NOPE!  What if you are under duress and you are feeling a bit stressed ?  Can that separate you from the love of God?  NO INDEED! What if people are hammering on you because you are a Christ Follower, and you are being persecuted to the max?  Can that separate you from the love of God? CERTAINLY NOT!  How about this:  You fall on hard times, and your clothes are getting a bit ragged to the point that you are revealing body parts that embarrass you...it's like you are naked... maybe you are naked.  Does that separate you from the love of God?  It  DOES NOT!  Suppose you find yourself in a dangerous situation, and you feel like your life is in peril. This really causes you to feel bad.  BUT does it separate you from the love of God?  NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST!  Maybe you get terrified by someone threatening your life.  Does that separate you from the love of God?  NO!
 
     What about life changes?  All your life you have been a certain way, and the way you were was positive for just about everyone around.  You use your gifts a lot during these times.  Then it all changes leaving you... a lot like I have been...a person with a different identity, and this brings anxiety.  Does this separate you from the love of God.  You guessed it.  The answer is an emphatic NO! As a matter of fact, none of these can separate you from the love of God.  The Apostle Paul says this even stronger. He says, "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!!!"
 
At this point someone might say, "Well each of these that have been mentioned sure make me feel rather negative."  And you would be right about feeling however you feel; nevertheless, my feelings are not reality.  Love is not a feeling.  It is a gift from God.  It is a choice that we choose to receive, and it is a choice that we choose to share. Again, it is not a feeling. As a symptom of being loved, we can have loving feelings; however, the essence of love is NOT based on how we feel.
 
"But" you say, "Don't we fall in love?"  The answer to this is that our toxic culture would have you and me believe we fall in love; yet, if we can fall in love, we can fall out of love. God did not fall in love with us, when he sent his one and only biological Son into the world to die for us. He loved us before the world was ever created. Additionally, he chose to love us, even while we were at our worst... "sinners."  There was no reason for him to fall in love with us.
 
    How Jesus suffered can help us here: The Cross clearly reveals that Jesus experienced some very painful feelings, while he was literally "loving us to death" on the way to the Cross. He was loving us to death right up to when the nails were driven in. He was loving us to death as he was clearly feeling excruciating pain. He was even loving us to death as he actually died.  At no time did God stumble into loving us.  He chose to love us, and he presented the greatest love of all as he "laid down his life" for we whom he makes his friends. Let me repeat something to make this a strong point. If we fall in love, we can fall out of love!  Since God did NOT fall in love with us, he will NEVER stop loving us.
 
  It's kind of hard to believe that, in all the challenges we have talked about here, that we can still be recipients of God's love no matter how bad we feel. I will go farther quoting Paul. "In all these things we are more than conquerors." Yup! Even while we are going through the "valley of the shadow of death" we are more than conquerors.  Why? This is true because God's love is consistent.  God's love is compassionate. God's love is completely, absolutely, dogmatically, pragmatically dependable and unending. God's love for you and me NEVER Fails.
 
     Take some time (sometimes) to read Romans 8:35-39.  Now read it again.  After you have read it again, write it in your on words.  Look it over, and then ask, "What is this telling me?"  Let the Word of God speak to you.  Sit with it, for a while,  reflecting over what it really means.  Then... 
 
 Be Blessed 2day.
Especially 2day.
 
SoJourner 




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