God loves you!

Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel

As the Father loves me, so I also love you

Imagine, Jesus, the Son of God, telling us this today. I love you – no ifs, no buts. Plain and simple I love you

Why does Jesus love us? Do we deserve that love? Are we worthy of that love? Did we earn that love?

The bible says that God loved us by sending Christ to die for us sinners (Romans 5:8 http://bible.cc/romans/5-8.htm ). Yes, we are not worthy of that love. We did not deserve that love. But God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die for us, even if we did not ask for it.

Christ loves us just as God the Father loved him. Wow. Eternal love. Pure love. Unconditional love. Agape.

In the gospel we can see that Christ is able to love us because he received that love from his Father. Sabi nga, you cannot give what you do not have, what you have not experienced. You cannot give love if you don’t know what it is, if you have not experienced it yet. Christ gives us this love because he experienced it too.

Do we feel God’s love? Probably not all the time.

There are times we just don’t feel God’s love. Pag madaming problema in career, family, health, safety, etc. When we feel that the world is crushing us. When we feel that bad people prosper while good people suffer. When we feel overwhelmed by life’s problems and challenges. When we are being unjustly treated. When we see innocent people suffering in the world. These are some of the times we don’t feel God’s love. However, kahit hindi natin palagi nararamdaman, God’s love is always there and it’s new every morning! (lamentations 3:22-23 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+3%3A22-23&version=NIV). God’s love is like the sun, unchanging and always shining, even if at night we don’t feel it.

His love is always there, and we are encouraged to love others as well. We can only love if we feel and realize God’s love in our lives. This is the only thing that can enable us to really love. Yes, we can love because God loved us first (1 John 4:19 http://bible.cc/1_john/4-19.htm)  Out of that love, out of us sharing and giving God’s love, we will find joy and be transformed as we share and proclaim God’s love to others, like the apostles in the first reading and the psalm.

In what areas or challenges in my life do I feel God’s love? Kelan ko sya hindi nararamdaman? Am I convinced that God loves me? How can I proclaim his love and greatness to other people?

May we always remember and feel God’s love in our lives and radiate it to others!

Stay blessed!

In Christ,

-g-