The God You Should Meet

What is love?  If we were to take a survey of people and ask them this particular question, what kind of answers would we get?  Some would say love is a feeling, others would equate it with sex, maybe others would say it is a commitment, or a 50-50 proposition with another person.  In our culture, many of us are searching to really understand the idea of love.  Maybe our marriages are not going as well as we would like, and we are thinking of bailing out.  Or we are frustrated because by purchasing gifts for someone, we thought we were showing love only to find out that there was still an emptiness inside. Love involves acceptance.  Today, the idea of love without conditions seems foreign to our society.  People bounce from partner to partner, looking for the elusive meaning of love.  We want to be unconditionally accepted for who we are, encouraged to develop to our full personhood, and be made to feel important and secure.  We want someone to be committed to us, to stand with us through difficult times. In our attempts to find that person who would love us unconditionally, be committed to us through all the good times and the bad, we have found that in human relationships that the ultimate ideal of love falls short.  This is not to say that we do not love, or are incapable of loving.  Quite the contrary.  The point is, seeking for the ultimate Figure of love Who can meet our every need, accept us for who we are and still love us, be committed to us despite our frailties, should lead us to at least consider the Christian concept of God.  This God is a living, loving, caring God. Though it is true that many of us will think that we have discovered the real meaning of love, we would like to challenge you to at least consider Someone Who can show us the ultimate meaning of love.  Fasten your seatbelts for a whirlwind tour as we discover the ultimate meaning of love, God Himself.  To make this easy to follow, let’s give 4 brief statements about God’s love that help us in understanding what love really is: God loved us so much that He gave His best for us. Many of us have probably given something to someone as a gift to show our appreciation and love.  Though we may have done that, how many of us would be willing to give up a family member (such as a child) as an act of love for others, if in doing so others could be given a release from a prison.  God chose, in giving His best, to give His Son Jesus Christ.  In showing us this love by giving the ultimate gift, God did so without reservation.  If you may wonder why, consider: If God is Who He claims to be, the Ruler of the universe, and desires for us to have a relationship with Him, how can this occur if left up to us.  Our natural tendency is to reject God and to not seek Him out.  We are in a way, in prison, separated from God by our sins. God, in His plan, chose to do what was necessary to restore a relationship between man and God – and His choice was to give His Son, Who also chose to give Himself, to die for our sins and to rise from the dead. God chose to give His best for us to make the ultimate statement of love.  John 15:13 says, "And here is how to measure it. The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends."  Jesus spoke this regarding the death He would die for us. God loves us so much He desired to break the bonds of our failures and sins so that we can be free. Our life is often loaded down with despair and struggles.  Jesus comes to remove those weights and to set us free.  It’s like Jesus comes next to us, picks up the heavy things we are carrying, and carries them for us.  Just consider this for a moment.  The Bible says,  "This is real love.  It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."  Jesus removes the power of sin from our life (the weights) and enables us to live a changed life.  It is like getting a breath of fresh air after being near a fire where the smoke choked you. God’s love is a non-condemning love. God desires for us an eternal relationship with Him.  It reaches us to everyone.  Jesus Himself said "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." (John 3:17)  Many of us have felt condemned by other people, snubbed and looked down upon.  Or we were involved in a relationship in which the other person criticized, abused, and put us down.  With God, His love is one that wants to rescue us, to give us a great life. God’s love is such that He desires for us to have a complete and fulfilled life – Because His love is not that of condemnation but of love, God wants for us the absolute best life possible.  Christianity does not promise that there are no rough spots in life, but the promise is that God can give us a life that is fulfilling, refreshing, and exciting.  And when we hit the rough spots in the road, God is there for us.  God’s Word, the Bible, was given to us because God loves us.  It is, we can say, the maintenance manual for our lives.  Some folks believe that being a Christian means you cannot have any fun, but people who have found Christ have found that indeed life can be fun and complete.  We also know that God cares so much for us that in our times of need He wants to comfort us, to show us mercy and compassion.  He does this through the Holy Spirit Who lives within us if we have a relationship with God, and through other people who come into our lives. Try to picture the perfect relationship, one in which even when you are struggling and hurting, that person loves you unconditionally, with no strings attached.  All because they want the best for us.  That is God. In closing, we want to encourage you to consider the claims of Christ and of God.  Right now, you can have a relationship with God.  It’s very simple.  Briefly, let’s look at some important facts that can help us have this special relationship with God:

** Jesus died on a cross to forgive us of our sins (those things that we have done against God)

** Jesus was buried in a tomb but rose from the dead on the third day so that we can have a new life.

** What we have to do is repent (tell God we are sorry for our sins and that we want to turn from them and turn to Him) and believe (take God at His Word) and ask Jesus to be the Leader of our life.

If you would like to have Christ enter your life right now, you can pray a prayer similar to this:        

"Dear Jesus, I believe that You died on a cross for my sins.  I know that I have sinned against You and ask You right now to please forgive me for all my sins.  I also believe that You rose from the dead and ask You to please come into my life and be the Leader of my life."

Thank you for doing this.