I love you. Those are the three most powerful words in the English language. From the time we are born, we not only long to hear those words but know they are true. The most important thing we need to know as a baby is that Mom and Dad love us. Sadly, many of us grew up not knowing that to be true. The two people who should have loved us the most didn't.
As we grow, up we seek to know we are loved by others -- by siblings, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, acquaintances, boss, etc. We perform our best. We do our best to earn the love and acceptance of those we meet. If that doesn't work, we do our worst just to gain attention as a substitute for being loved. If we are not loved or do not feel loved, we will do much to fill the hole in our hearts that it leaves. We will dress like others to be accepted. We will do what others do hoping to fit in. We will hold onto unhealthy relationships, we will socialize, we will serve others, we will give away our money, we will give our time, we will drink, we will take , we will even kill just to be loved and accepted.
I love you. We need to hear those words daily. We need to be touched so we know we are loved. We need people to spend time with us to know we are loved. We need to receive gifts to know we are loved. We need to be served and receive acts of kindness to know we are loved. We need to be praised and told we've done well to know we are loved.
Are you loved? Do you have parents who love you? Do you have friends who love you? Do you have a spouse who loves you? Do you have children who love you?
There must be at least one individual in your life who loves you. If not, you could not survive. Being loved is that important.
The good news is there is at least one individual who loves you. He knows you intimately. He knows all the good things you've done. He knows all the bad things you've done. He knows every lie and every truth. He knows when you've loved and when you've ed. He knows when you've given and when you've taken. He knows every fault, every hidden thing about you. And he loves you. He loves you passionately. He loves you unconditionally. He desperately wants you to know how much he loves you.
There is nothing you can do to earn this individual's love and there's nothing you can do to stop him from loving you. He loves you as you are right now. He's loved you since before you were born. He will love you long after you've died.
His name is Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you. He passionately loves you. He desperately wants you to know he loves you. You can't earn his love. You can't do anything that will stop him from loving you.
There is, however, a problem. The problem is that you've done things that separate you from God. You see God is righteous and holy. He's never done anything wrong. He is love. He is good.
You and I have done many things that are not loving to both ourselves and others. We hurt others. We hurt ourselves. This both grieves God because he loves us and separates us from God.
God is also just. There is a penalty for the things you do wrong. That penalty is death. Death would separate you from God forever. God does not want that. He wants to be with you forever. He loves you.
So, God provided a way to both satisfy his justice and his love. He took the penalty for the unloving things you've done upon himself. Jesus came to this earth, lived as a man and died. He died for you, taking the penalty you deserve. Having done this, God has provided a bridge to himself for you. All you have to do is accept his love and cross the bridge by believing that Jesus died for you because you've done unloving things. Believe this and God will forgive you.
There is a catch. The catch is that if you accept Jesus, he will begin to change you because he loves you. He knows the unloving things you do hurt you and others he loves. So he will give you the power to change when you submit to his reign in your life. You will also be so overwhelmed with his love for you that you will want to serve him and others. You will want to tell others about his love.
God is not out to deprive you of good things. On the contrary, he wants to give you the best. Following him and living by his loving commands is the best.
You may be skeptical of this. This may seem too good to be true. But what if it is true? Is it not worth investigating? I challenge you, look into this. See if it is true. Ask a Christian friend. Tell that friend you are skeptical but want to know the truth. Read a Bible. Read the gospels and examine the life of this man Jesus. Read books by former atheists like C. S. Lewis' 'Mere Christianity' or Lee Strobel's 'The Case for Christ.'
You'll find these three words are true: 'Jesus loves you.' Yes, you. As you are. No conditions. He loves you. He made you. He wants to spend an eternity with you. Yes, Jesus wants to touch you, to spend time with you, to give you gifts, to serve you and to affirm you. One day he wants to say to you, 'I love you, my child. I'm so joyful that you let me love you. I'm so joyful you let me change you. I'm so joyful you let me serve others through you. Well done. Come near now and be with me and my father forever.'This is about the greatest and trues love that any of us can find.
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This was such a heartfelt column!
Thank you for your God inspired words Rob. I haven't been a christian but my love for God is strong. If only those who do not believe could read this and change their minds.
God bless you and may the lord continue blessing you with the talent that God gave to you.
GRACY -
Indeed, love is what I seek, but I am not sure from where I want it to come from.
You certainly did make me think, and I am still pondering the possibilities, though I am still not sure if it is God I seek.
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One piece expressing one's person's beliefs is not enough ever to convince a person of the same beliefs. The intent is to make one think. Love is what we all seek. This is meant to encourage the possibility that God can satisfy what we all seek.
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I read this entire piece, and though it is well written, I am still a skeptic. I find I am more skeptical after I read something like this only because if at all I feel like god is being pushed on me, I rebel. You obvioulsy have a strong faith, and it brings you the comfort and love you desire. My question to you is that.. how do you know he loves you? It is comforting to think that we are not alone if we have faith in GOd, but really, I am still alone, whether he loves me or not, because I don't "feel" him so to speak. I am not sure I am making any sence at all. You did a fantastic job illustrating your view, and making your beliefs clear. You have given me a lot to think about, but I am still a skeptic.
Edited on Sep 15, 10:00 p.m. because ''. -
I am also a non- conformist (owing partly to numerous incidents of so called christians, not acting as christians out of church ) but I have to say how deeply moved I was by your strong beliefs and not being ashamed to announce to the world of your love for Jesus. Each of us has our own faith be it now or when the time comes , we all reach out for someone/ something. I'm pleased you found your saviour now. My respects........I salute you.
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In reply to the 10th paragrpah: Yes, so maybe I have hurt myself alot. I'm going to hell?
in reply to the 11th stanza: I'm pretty sure we ALL die. Unless there's a group of immortal people in Antartica that I don't know about. We still all die. (Maybe change the wording of that paragraph a little? Took me a second to figure that out, when in the word of my english teacher: 'DOn't confuse people in the middle of a writing!') Or I'm just to tired and missed a word or 2 that made it confusing.
In reply to the 13th paragraph:
I'll think I'll change myself to what I want to be thanks.
Overall I think this is a very well written piece and clearly states your opinion. You did a great job on writing it. (I'm not saying I agree though.) I do try to give a grammatical review because grammer is important. I didn't see any mistakes spelling wise. Nice write
Have a nice and cheery day!
GoldenFlames -
I like that. It offers a good argument, just a statement, and a challenge to go check it out. Nicely written. I don't believe, but, i still enjoyed it. But just a kind of random question, why is it always jesus, doesn't anyone care about the original guy, god anymore?
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No problem at all! it was my pleasure! just wrote a column myself on how people cant critque properly, so am trying not to be hypocritical! lol
xXx
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Thank you very much. I'm glad you read the whole thing and took the the time to comment even though you don't agree with all I said. I really appreciate it.
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Nice Column
I myself am a non-believer, and i shall stay that way, but this collumn was incredibly well written, and you must have a very strong faith,
i felt you brought up some very good points, and until you started talking about jesus i was incredibly interested about where it was going, no offense meant to you or to any others, but religion isnt my thing!
i did however read the whole of your column, and i admire your love for jesus and god, i also admire you wanting others to feel this love, its a lovely thing for you to do,
just felt like i should comment on this, considering i took the time to read it! hope you appreciate my comment, thankyou very much for the column, enjoyed reading your views,
Good luck in life and in poetry
xXx
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