You are loved!

It can be easy for the single and unattached to become sad at this time of year (believe me, I know).  You might feel like Charlie Brown did in “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown”, rejected and unwanted.  What good is Valentine’s Day for the person who doesn’t have a significant other?  I love what someone on the K-love radio station team recently said; he said don’t forget that even if you aren’t in a romantic relationship that doesn’t mean that you are unloved.  That’s what I think the person who is without a Valentine can do: remember all the people who love you and want to be with you.  Cherish and celebrate your loved ones.  Shower love and appreciation on your family, friends, and coworkers.  It will brighten their day, and you will feel better as well.

I titled today’s blog “you are loved!”  I did that for two reasons.  #1: As I said, it can be easy for the single person to become down in the dumps and discouraged because they aren’t in a romantic relationship.  But, once again, it’s helpful and encouraging for that person to remember that they are loved.  They have family, friends, and other loved ones to be thankful for.  Remembering you are loved is a tremendous blessing.

The second reason I titled the blog what I did is because of the amazing truth we see in the pages of the Bible: you and I are loved by the God who created the entire universe!  In Jeremiah 31:3 God says, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.”  God loves us with an unending, unchanging, everlasting love.  1 John 4 tells us “God is love.”  It is within God’s nature to love fallen, fickle, imperfect human beings.

Someone wants to object.  You want to say, “Kevin, I’ve heard this notion that God loves me before.  But it simply can’t be true.  After all, I’ve endured so much heartache, calamity, and sorrow.  If God really loved me, He wouldn’t have allowed me to experience all this pain.”  First of all, know that I’m sorry.  I know how much my life has changed since last Valentine’s Day.  I know the pain, loss, and suffering I’ve had to endure; I’m not unmoved by your pain.  I’ve been there.  In fact, I’m still there.

However, look at this verse from the book of Romans: “But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8).  If you want to gauge God’s love for you, you can’t look at the circumstances of your life; you have to look at the cross of Calvary.  It was there that Jesus, God in human flesh, voluntarily gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for you and me.

 

The most famous verse of the Bible reads, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  1 John 3:16, a lesser known verse, states, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us” (NIV).  Maybe you feel as if no one on Earth loves you.  Maybe you feel abandoned, friendless, and alone.  I highly doubt you are completely unloved, but even if you are, God loves you.  You are loved!  Psalm 27:10 says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.”  If you’ve never commenced a relationship with God, you can do so today.  If you are a believer, bask in the thought that no matter how difficult life is, God loves you, and He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:6).

Kevin