How We Know God Loves Us

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
​that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

Did you know that one of the most popular verses in the Bible is John 3:16? It is the one verse in the Bible that perfectly describes how much God loves us. By looking at John 3:16 closely, I think we can accurately know the heart of God.

For God So Loved the World

"World" in Greek is translated as "kosmos," and there are eight different meanings for its biblical usage. Below are three definitions that really stood out for me:

1. The world are the inhabitants of the earth: men, the human family.
2. The world is an ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, the heavenly hosts, as the ornament of the heavens.
3. The world is the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.

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God's most incredible creation is not just us but the entire universe that surrounds us. We know from the first chapter of Genesis that everything created by God was deemed "good." He loves this world He made. So we should take care of it.

Earth is just one of the ornaments that decorate the heavens in this vast universe God created. But we have the incredible privilege of being the only planet where the human family was created - a family that God loves. A family devoid of colour, sexual orientation, religion - anything divisive. You see, to God, we are all the same because despite what we might look like on the outside, on the inside, we all have the same parts. And He sent His son for the ENTIRE human family because He loves ALL OF US. And it is the same Holy Spirit he gives to us when we acknowledge Him as our Saviour. His Holy Spirit unites us as a family even more.

GOD'S LOVE IS SO VAST AND SO DEEP THAT HE CARES EVEN FOR THOSE WHO ARE HOSTILE TOWARD HIM.

That He Gave His One and Only Son

This is the single reason why we can be confident that God loves us. He sent His only son into this world because of His divine love. How vast is His love? The Apostle John makes it very clear in the following verses:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
​ and the Word was God (John 1:1).

Who Was the Word?

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
​full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Jesus was the Word!

God came down to earth in the form of a man - Jesus - and walked among us. Why? Again - His love was so great for us that He gave up His heavenly abode to walk among us - to teach us the right way to live. This was like the stories of old when a King desired to walk among His subjects to find out how they felt about him and grasp what they were going through. Now think about that for a minute. GOD DID THAT FOR YOU AND ME!

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
although He existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,
​and being made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:5-7, NKJV).

That Whoever Believes in Him Shall Not Perish But Have Eternal Life

Let's keep this in context - God gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in him - in Jesus - shall not perish but have eternal life. John 4:24 says God is spirit, and it is because of the gift of the Holy Spirit that we can have communion with the King of the universe. Those who reject God's gift of eternal life with Him make a conscious decision to lose access to God. To die in their sins. To reject God's saving grace. To reject His promise to save them from themselves. These are people God loves, and they are why He came to earth so that no one would perish.

This is the Heart of God!

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

So rejoice in that love! Never doubt that God loves you because you are the reason He became a man. You are the reason, He took your sins to the cross. You are the reason He forgave those sins. You are the reason God rose again from the dead, and you are the reason He is coming back again, to receive you unto Himself. God's love, His central focus, His heart - has always been you and me!

You Are the Heart of God!