“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
John 15:9

 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

Ephesians 2:4

here may be times in your life when you feel totally unloved. It seems no one really cares for you. People whose love you seek, whether it is family, friends, or fellow believers, seem to forsake you and reject you. You not only feel unloved, you are convinced that in reality no one loves you. When those kinds of thoughts come, it is time to start thinking biblically, and realize that your thoughts are not true thoughts. They are lies—and remember—who is the father of lies?

Look at John 15:9 above. If you have a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ, He loves you. The love that He loves you with, is the same kind of love that His Father has for Him. It is not a shallow, superficial love; but it is a deep abiding, all encompassing love. It is …the love of Christ which passes knowledge…(Ephesians 3:19).  In Ephesians 2:4 the Apostle Paul writes the God the Father loves you with His great love. If you are willing to take God at His Word how can you feel unloved?

Remember, we said earlier that the love of God and Christ for you is not some kind of ephemeral feeling on your part; rather, it is a lasting reality that endures because of God’s faithfulness. You will never be separated from either the love of Christ or the love of God. The Apostle Paul writes concerning the reality of God’s enduring love as follows:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?…nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 39)

There should be no doubt in your mind concerning God’s love for you. You can read about it in His Word. But His love for you is not only in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18). He proved the reality of His love by giving His only begotten Son (John 3:16); He further demonstrated His love toward you when Christ died for you (Romans 5:8); finally, Titus sums up beautifully how God has manifested His love for you in Titus 3:4-7:

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Earlier we mentioned that God’s love for you is a deep abiding love. Maybe the reason you feel “unloved” is because you haven’t been abiding or remaining in God’s love. Check John 15:9 again—notice that our Lord tells you to “remain in His love.” What does He mean? Be assured that God’s love toward you has not waned, but maybe your love for Him has. Maybe there has been disobedience or sin accompanied by guilt on your part. We want to point out that for you to remain in His love and to receive the reward of the knowledge of His constant approval, you have a responsibility. That responsibility is found in John 15:10:

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

Your responsibility to love God, demonstrated through your obedience, is not your only responsibility. In his first epistle, the Apostle John revealed that you have a duty to your fellow man as well. In 1 John 4:10 he repeats again God’s love for you—then in the next verse he makes this statement:

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

One who truly knows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior should never feel unloved. Rather, they should be exuding love, …because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts….(Romans 5:5)

(10/23/05)