God loved us unconditionally, and the whole world by the way, (John 3:16-17) before we responded to His love for us. His unconditional love is based upon His never changing, loving nature. We may not have had a great loving relationship with our earthly father; however, God's ways are not man’s ways (Isaiah 55:8). He has accepted us as His own, His love is perfect towards us, and He will never fail us.
God's unconditional love
Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Psalm 139:13-18 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
1John 4:16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
1John 4:10 This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins
Psalm 52:8 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God's unfailing love.
Psalm 106:1 Praise the LORD! Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Redefining who we are
We are not to defined by our past, our present circumstance of life, or how others may see us. God chose us to be His own and placed great value on us by giving His Only Son so that we could be reconciled and adopted into His family. As a result, we are now called His sons and daughters and we are part of the family of God.
We are identified as sons and daughters
Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
2Corinthians 6:18And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty."
John 1:12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
We have absolute acceptance in Christ
It is not how we feel or perceive acceptance, but it is what God's Word says about us! So, no matter how our day has gone or how we may feel emotionally, we are accepted because of the completed work of Christ through the cross!
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
1Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Trouble, calamity, or persecution. Does God really love me?
It may be that our present, difficult circumstances that we are experiencing are the consequences for our sin. On the other hand, it can be just the opposite. Whatever the case we may be in the habit of defining all our situations with the premise that God is not happy with us, no longer loves us, or that we have done something wrong and that we are experiencing punishment. As daughters and sons God’s motivation is always for our good! To move us from our present identity in temporal (work, ministry, relationships) to the place of true freedom and complete identity in the one true constant, our Heavenly Father.
Romans 8:35-37 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
1 John 4:16-18 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
