Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and He in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. (1 John 4:15-16)
God is love. He created love. He gives love. God loves you. The Bible says, ‘This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.’ (1 John 4:9-12)
From the moment you were born, God has been waiting, looking for you. He simply says, “Child of mine, come home.”
Jesus told us to call God ‘our Father’, and in the Bible He Himself is described as a ‘Son of God’. And we are sons and daughters of God! This is why we have the right to approach Him and talk to Him personally, as we would with any father. In any relationship the important thing is communication. Marriage will breakdown when there is no communication between husband and wife. Teenagers cause problems when they are no longer able to communicate with parents. This is why communication with God is important – and Jesus is the only mediator. When we are in difficulty, we are told to approach God our Father through Jesus. In fact, Jesus said to His disciples when He was on earth, “Now while I am with you, you ask Me for everything, but when I go to Heaven, then whatever you ask the Father in My name – He will give it to you.”
Not only is God your Father, but He has promised to take care of you ‘as a father cares for his children’. The Bible even says that God knows every sparrow that falls to the ground and even the hairs on your head are numbered – that is how close His relationship with you is!
God wants us to come to Him for help and He will hear even the faintest cry. Just as a mother learns how to recognise the different cries of her baby before it can even speak, when it is hungry, or tired, or needs a nappy change, or just needs comfort – so God recognises the need you express by your every cry for help!
The miracle of the Gospel is that we have direct access access to God as sons and daughters. In the Old Testament it was necessary to come to God through a priest, but the good news of the New Testament is that God sent His Son to be born as a baby, to live and work as one of us, to show that all the barriers are broken down and we have direct access to a Heavenly father.
‘Long ago, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure.’ (Ephesians 1:4-5)
‘O come all ye faithful’ ‘Our God reigns’ ‘God is love’ used by kind permission of www.vinesong.com