Sunday, May 1, 2011

Doubting God's Love

"I have loved you,' says the LORD.
Yet you say, 'In what way have You loved us?"

Malachi 1:2

A mother said to her preschool daughter, "Honey, you can't eat candy now. Supper is almost ready." The child began to cry and pout, then she said, "You don't love me. I want candy." Sometime we are that way with God. We may even pout with Him, if He doesn't give us everything that we want. God does love us, and He knows what is best for us. A preschool child may often not understand a parent's rules and discipline, but we also fail so many times to understand our heavenly Father's commandments and work in our lives.

A woman was a patient recovering from serious surgery. She said to her minister, "It would be easy to doubt God's love, when you suffer like I have." The minister understood and agreed, but he said, "But, when we consider how much more His Son suffered for us at the cross, His love is beyond doubt." Anytime we doubt God's love for us, let us remember Christ crucified. Greater love has no man than this. Doubting God's love is dismissed in the face of the crucified One.

If you ever doubt God's love, confess that doubt in prayer. Ask God to help you understand His love at the cross. More than that, ask Him to fill your heart with His love. God's Spirit is able to fill our hearts with God's great love (Romans 5:5). It's one thing to hear about God's love, or read it in the Bible. It's another thing to experience God's love in your heart. God's love overwhelms our doubt, through the love of Christ poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Father, fill our hearts with Your love divine, that any doubt of Your love will be dismissed at the coss of Christ. Amen.