But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

What a simple, yet powerful scripture! When we would have nothing to do with God, He paid the ultimate price for us. When we were deserving of wrath and judgment, He gave us mercy and grace! But why? All because He wanted to restore relationship with us. God knows you. He knows everything about you and everything you did, and He still loves you! And now, through the blood of His son Jesus, you can know Him! 

As we talked about last week, Jesus came to restore the relationship between God and man (John 17:3). What we are talking about this week is God’s love for us through that relationship. Now that we have been restored, we can freely receive God’s love! It comes through spending time in His word, in worship and in prayer. It comes through shutting the door and getting alone with God. In those moments, we can begin to know Him. And as we know Him, we come to know love, because God is love(1 John 4:16)!

What is so wonderful about this process is that everything in life is connected to our relationship with God. The Bible says that the just (that’s us) shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). The Bible also says that faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). This means that the more we know God and His love for us, the more our faith works. The more our faith works, the easier life gets! 

Take time today to just be with God. Open your Bible, put on some worship, just get into His presence and ask Him to teach you.

Be blessed and encouraged,

John