This Is It

God loves you. Read it again. Again. At least one more time. This is it. This is where everything starts. This is how it finishes. This has to be the message the church, us, those that follow Jesus, will scream at the top of our lungs. This is what we have to be saying with a fierceness in our eyes that proves we believe it. This is where we find life, this is where we die. God's love. Its real. Its everything.

Why are people...people? Why are we here? Whats our "purpose?" All of those stuffy intellectual questions we ask around expensive cups of coffee find there answer somewhere in this truth. God loves you. I recently had a discussion with some people, fellow believers, about why we are here. The favored explanation was for God's glory. To bring glory to God. This is so true, but I don't think it satisfies my question. Put down your rock, and let me explain. When asked why we are here, why God created us I have a hard time believing that the answer is "for God's glory", because that sounds to me like before God created us He was lacking in something, glory perhaps? Was God sitting around in the cosmos and thinking, "I'm just not getting enough glory up here, what to do about that..." Now don't get me wrong, I do think everything, including us, exists for the sole purpose of bringing God glory, but I don't think its "why" we are here. I wonder if why God created us is more about what God would give then what He would get.

I think its because God loves us. Think about it. God, the best thing there is, who is not lacking in anything decided to create something that could share how good He is. I've heard it said that the most selfless thing a perfect being could offer would be Himself. So why did God create us? To give Himself. The best thing He could give. Because He loves us. The reason we were brought into existence is because God loves us. God loved us so much that we were created in a way that when we give God glory, enjoy just how good He is, we are most satisfied.

We have to understand this. We have to communicate this. Because this is where everything starts and ends. When we experience God's love, all that is required of us is to respond to it. That's what this is all about. Responding to the love of our Creator. Obedience isn't just obedience, its a response of love. Its the product of a relationship. Its not just following rules for the sake of following rules, its living in a way that allows you to have a relationship with God, who loves you. I've heard it said that your head will let you get away with a lot more than your heart will.

My friend told me about a conversation he had with a family member who is struggling to understand his position with God. The family member asked, "I just don't know where I stand. What am I supposed to do?" My friend responded with, "Its not about what you do." Its about realizing you're loved by God and then responding to that love.

Some of us claim to love God, to follow Him, but do we though? Really? I would like to think that to be loved by God means to find my satisfaction, my identity, my security, my worth, in Him, how He feels about me. To love Him back would be to live like a person who finds my satisfaction, identity, security and worth in Him. What are we wanting to love us?

We...love because God first...loved...us. This is it.