God loves the world. Jesus loves the world. The comprehension of God’s love in our lives is hard to fathom. Circumstances that come into our 
lives and into the lives of those we love sometimes cause us to question God’s love. I think this is a symptom of the way we love and misrepresents the way God loves. We seem to love what we deem as attractive or desirable. At times we love because we get something from the object of our affections. We hold our love like we hold our money. Anyone who gets it has to earn it! Those who get our love and affection have to earn it also. But God doesn’t love us that way.
God actually uses our failures and sins for his own purposes. This truly shows us that he doesn’t love us simply for the great things we can do for him, or for the sacrifices we make for him, or for the rituals we might perform for him. There’s an additional verse to the old children’s hymn, “Jesus Loves Me.” It goes like this:
Jesus loves me when I’m good,
When I do the things I should.
Jesus loves me when I’m bad,
Though it makes him very sad.
P. P. Bliss was a famous hymn writer. One of my favorite Bliss Hymns has a line that goes like this. Some of you might remember hearing this.
I am so glad that our Father in heaven
Tells of His love in the Book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see,
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.
Chuck
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” Jeremiah 31:3