Who is God?

This is perhaps the most important question that you could ever ask.

When we look at the Bible, we see that God describes Himself as Love (Exodus 34:6-7; see below). He is not just loving; He is the full embodiment, or the perfect standard, of love. Without God, we have no real reference of what love truly is. Our capacity to either receive or display love is directly and divinely tethered to who He is.

This article serves one purpose: For you to catch even just a glimpse of the love of God.

Here are two simple, yet profound realities that you need to know about God’s love.

First, His love is personal

God is not impersonal. He is not like the absent parent who occasionally checks in on you. He is not like the distant lawmaker who wants to control and oppress you. Honestly, He is better, kinder, and infinitely more gracious than anyone you’ve ever met – no analogy or simile to any human would ever do Him justice.

With one glance of His eyes, your heart would melt into a molten mass of liquid love. With one word, your soul would be put to rest, knowing that you’re fully secure. With one embrace, you would forget every heartbreak, every bully, every hurtful word ever spoken about you – you would know that you are His, and He is yours.

Now, let’s look at just a few examples of how personal God’s love is straight from His word, the Bible – His love letter to you.

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” Exodus 34:6-7 (NIV)

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

“I have loved you,” says the Lord…” Malachi 1:2 (NIV)

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12 (NIV)

Yes, God loves the whole world, but He does so by loving you! He knows your name. He called out to you when you were in your mother’s womb. He celebrated when you took your first steps.

God wants you to know that it was His love for you that sent Jesus to the cross. His love covers every sin that you’ve ever committed, and every sin you ever will. When you come to understand that for yourself, your gratitude can overwhelm your desire to sin.

God loves you personally.

Second, His love is unconditional

This means that there is no condition you need to meet to be loved by Him. God doesn’t say, “I’ll love you if…”. Instead, He says, “even if you…I’ll still love you.”

And if there’s no condition you need to meet to be loved by God, that means there is nothing you can ever do to lose His love.

Let’s draw this home a little more:

God loves men AND women
God loves young AND old people
God loves people of every race! Every skin color.
God loves people who love him AND people who don’t

Understand this: God loving you has never been about what you did or who you are; it’s about who He is. Honestly, we don’t deserve His love; we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard.  But the GOOD NEWS is this:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV) 

God’s love is baffling.
God’s love is wild.
God’s love is holy.
God’s love is pure.
God’s love is beyond any human description.

Today, fix your attention on what God is speaking to you through His love letter, the Bible. Let His love wash over you. Rest in Him, knowing that He personally and unconditionally loves you.

By Chase McCartney, Former Social Media Marketing Coordinator for Biblica.

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