by Macy Laegeler | Feb 22, 2024 | Hope, LO Library, Perspective
God loves you. A phrase that some of us might feel numb towards because we have heard so much, a phrase that might feel untrue or unfathomable, a phrase that maybe you are reading for the first time. Regardless of how it lands when you read it, it changes everything if it is true. Personally, I believe that God loves you, and you may like the sound of that, however, it really doesn’t matter what we think or believe as much as why we can believe it to be true. Where is the proof?
The Bible is full to the brim of stories displaying God’s love for His people, so I have condensed those into a few major themes.
He created us, in His image and He didn’t have to. Genesis 1:27 says “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” We were made in His image, given dignity from the very beginning. Job 33:4 says “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” God does not need us, but we need Him. Only in Him do we have life, we could not and would not be here without Him. Thankfully, His love and creativity overflowed into His creation of mankind and the world.
Although we separate ourselves from Him, through our sin, He made a way for us to spend eternity with Him. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Not one person on earth could earn the love of the Father, no one is righteous – except one, Jesus. Not only is He righteous, but His righteousness becomes our own when we accept Him. So even though we consistently fall short, because of the fact that He never fell short our lives are changed.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” His son, His choice, Jesus died for us so that we may live, and for FREE! We did not do anything to merit the gift that is salvation through Christ. In God’s LOVE and generosity and mercy he gifts us righteousness through Christ, all we have to do is accept it.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God loves us so much, He sent his son, while we were still sinners, to die for us, so that we may spend eternity with Him forever. While we were actively running away from Him, He ran toward us. He endured the cross while we mocked Him as our choices put Him there. In His love He stayed, died for us, and made a way to bridge the gap sin created between us and God.
He sacrificed for our benefit, and our eternity can be secure through Christ. John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” I struggle to think of how the Creator of the universe could love us more than by including us in His family, and offering us eternal life with Him.
This is the gospel, this is the GOOD NEWS! We can be coheirs in the kingdom of God! Titus 3:4-7 says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Why does any of this matter?
If it is true that God loves me, why does that change my life?
I would challenge that once you know you are loved by God, everything you do no longer is about you but Him. I can trust Him, He loves me, my life is His! Friendships, relationships, work, hobbies, eating, drinking, exercise, everything is about him. What relief and freedom His love brings to not have to bear the burden of selfishness and control.
I am currently in a post-graduate fellowship program and one of our themes for the year is focusing on our belovedness. The acknowledgement and deep understanding of God’s love for us is what allows us to honor and enjoy Him all the days of our lives. God consistently describes His love as steadfast toward us. It is resolute, unchanging, and steady. It does not waver based upon our actions, it cannot be earned, and it is always consistent. He never leaves or forsakes us. In every season, every mountain and valley, God’s love for us is steadfast. No matter what you may be going through you can rest in God’s love for you. He calls you…
Blessed – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” – Ephesians 1:3
Free – “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”- Romans 6:6-7
Beautiful – “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”- Psalm 139:13-14
Victorious – “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” – Romans 8:37
Chosen – “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love” – Ephesians 1:4
Forgiven – “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” – Ephesians 1:7
Understanding our belovedness changes our identity. We are not defined by who anyone says we are, by our failures or accomplishments, or even who we think we are. We are defined by our Maker, as people created in his likeness, for his glory, out of His love. So if you get anything from reading this blog, I hope it is the simple and complex truth that God loves you.
Macy is from Orlando, FL, and currently resides in Nashville, TN. Keep up with Macy on Instagram at @macy_laegeler 🙂
by Macy Laegeler | Apr 5, 2022 | Life Advice, Love
What does it mean to do something actively? In my research I found that it can be described as doing something deliberately and vigorously. God has shown us that He loves us deliberately and vigorously. Therefore, God actively loves us, and calls us to actively love others.
In the Bible we can see God’s deliberate love for us in the intentionality of Him sending His Son to die for us. This was not something that just kind of happened, rather God had designed an intricate beautiful plan to reconcile His creation back to His heart. He created us and loves us, and in our flesh we chose sin, so He had to bridge the gap that was in between us and Him. When Christ came and fulfilled every prophecy, lived a perfect holy life, and took the punishment for our sin on the cross he became a bridge over the gap that sin created. Our acceptance of Him allows us to come back to God despite our sin. This is the gospel, and this is the grandest gesture of active love imaginable. So how does this impact our daily lives and help us to actively love? We follow His example. You can share the gospel with someone every day, sometimes without saying a word. Your life is a reflection of the gospel to everyone you encounter.
Now this can be difficult because we typically don’t encounter opportunities to lay down our lives for our friends and family literally, but there are ways that we can deliberately love them similarly to how God deliberately loved us. Practically, because I am a college student, this may look different in your life than in mine. However, I know that some people who read this may be looking for realistic ways to love their friends in college so here are some of the ways that I attempt to exercise this active love that God has shown me.
- Sticker Notes: Now this may sound silly, but my friends and I all invested in stickers and began writing little notes to each other with fun stickers that reminded us of each other. Each note was like a token of intentionality. After I wrote to my friends, I had so many extra stickers so I thought why limit myself to just my close friends, why not give these to everyone? So I started writing them to a lot of people, even people I had barely talked to, and it created opportunities for me to become better friends with them, and hopefully make their day more encouraging.
- Turn Down Service: This works the best if you have roommates. Personally I live in a house with a lot of girls, so when people are coming home late I try to clean their room and un-make their bed so it is ready for them to sleep in when they get home. The same goes for if they get up early for something, I will make their bed so when they get back they don’t have to. It’s very simple, but when my friends do it for me I feel very loved and cared for. Reducing another person’s to-do list, even by one thing, is impactful.
- Matching Excitement: This is more of a state of mind, but I think one of the most damaging things that someone can do in a relationship is “yuck someone’s yum”. What I mean by this is that, I try to never be the person that makes anyone feel bad or lame for something they are passionate about. Instead, my friends and I typically attempt to match that excitement with each other. For example, two of my best friends are very musical and love to play guitar and piano, and instead of not engaging when they talk about it or play, I found my old guitar and asked them to teach me. Now we all play together all the time, because instead of putting them down I tried to build them up and asked them to help me. People love an excuse to talk about what they are passionate about, so matching others’ excitement shows them that you care and want to hear about what things have captured their heart. Not only that, but then if I am given the chance to talk about what I am passionate about, I have an opportunity to tell them about my faith.
In addition to God loving us deliberately, He loves us vigorously, powerfully, eagerly, and enthusiastically. The best example I can think of where we see this in the Bible is in the sending of Jesus to earth. We got to see how He eagerly loved the people around Him in His everyday life. In John 4, the story of the Samaritan woman at the well is told. At this time women and Samaritans were outcasts already, on top of the fact that this woman was at the well around noon (a time that no one went to draw water because of the heat) which meant that she was avoiding other women in her own town, making her an outcast of the outcasts. Yet, Jesus made the decision to take a harder trip to his destination to ensure that He would meet this woman at the well. He was eager to love her, eager to quench her spiritual thirst with living water, eager to remind her that she can’t earn the love of God but it is freely given to her despite what she has done. She was the first person that He told that He was the Messiah. What a picture of enthusiastic and vigorous love.
God wants us to love people this way, so that we can experience giving active love to others the same way that He gives it to us. Life is so much fuller when you go all out in love. What is the benefit of censored love except safety, and is it better to be safe or to experience the fullness of love which includes vulnerability? For example, my friends and I decided to do secret santa for Christmas this year, but with a twist. We called it surprise Christmas and we started this in August. As months went on we accumulated little trinkets and gifts for the person we had drawn, and then we decided on which week to give the presents to each other. Instead of exchanging gifts all at the same time, we were allowed to choose any time, day or night, to surprise our person with their gift. I can’t explain how much this leveled up the gift giving experience, and it showcased everyone’s excitement for each other. It was an idea that made us all extremely more excited to give than to receive, and it propelled us to love each other better because for five months we were listening intently to what the other person needed. It was one of the best experiences of eager and enthusiastic love I have ever had.
Active love is not an easy calling, but it is who Christ is. If I am attempting to use my life to make Christ more known, then active love is something I want to be engaging in daily. With that being said, I hope you feel challenged and encouraged with the idea of actively loving the people God has put in your life. And as a reminder you yourself are actively, eagerly, deliberately, and intentionally loved by the creator of the universe. He calls us heirs to His kingdom, and we don’t have to do anything but accept his love in the form of Christ! Now let’s go love people!
Macy is a college student who is involved in greek life and Doulos which is a greek life ministry. She is also a spicy uno enthusiast, a lover of marine life and chocolate covered gummy bears, and a friend.
