Ephesians 1:4, New Living Translation

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”

Is the above statement, written by the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus, too hard for you to understand? In this fallen world people change, they rarely keep their promises. There is abandonment and betrayal. I have been there, and I know you have all been there as well. We try to understand and learn the love of God by comparing it to our experiences with people, by reading a novel, or watching a Hallmark movie. Yet, what often takes place in our soul leaves us feeling empty and hopeless. Somehow though, we recognize that we have to turn to God in order to experience the love that can fill our soul, the love that is everlasting. It is sad to say that while we may change the object from man to God, we do not change our approach. We try to do our best to be good, to do good, and to earn His love. We find that we repeatedly judge the love of God by comparing it with the right and wrong that we believe that we are doing. Believe me, it grieves my heart, and it also grieves the Holy Spirit.

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” (Ephesians 1:4, NLT)

Even before the Lord made the world He loved you and I just as He loves you and I now. Even before we are created, before we are born, before we know good and evil, and before we make a decision to believe in Jesus or not, He loves us! How could that be possible? As a child I could never understand that, not until I became a parent and understood that God is my Father.

As a parent, my love for my child began before he was conceived in my womb. It started from the day I thought of a child, envisioning how he/she may look, and wondering about the joy I would experience when he/she called me mom. I held him in my arms, looked at his little face, smelled his baby scent, paid attention to his movements, and heard the sounds he made. There was not one second in which my love for him depended on the choices he made. I am determined to stand by him whatever challenges he may have in his life, and I will never stop showing him love regardless of the difficulties I may face. If I can love my son in this way even with my human weaknesses, how much more does our heavenly Father love us? He is perfect and good!

This is how I always explain and encourage my friends about the love of the Father. When a toddler is learning how to walk, they fall many times. A good parent helps them get up, cleans up their wounds, and cheers them on to try again. This is the same thing that our heavenly Father does for us. God loves us before we can do anything good, and His love is unstoppable and everlasting.

My dear friends, open your heart and stop reasoning, measuring, and doubting the love of God. He is already in love with you, and He is waiting for you to respond to Him.