File: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread/db940804.txt
------------------------------------------------------




OUR DAILY BREAD                                  August 4, 1994
---------------
                          "Does God Love Me?"

               We love Him because He first loved us.

                              I John 4:19

It's not easy to understand the depth of God's love for us.  Because of 
our pride and fear, we fail to grasp how undeserving we are and how free 
His love is.

At times I struggle with pride, so I tend to believe that I have earned 
any love I have received.  Pride tells me that I am loved only when I am 
lovable, respectable, and worthy.

At other times I feel the tug of fear.  Deep down inside, I know that I 
don't deserve the love I get.  My motives are never pure, and I fear I 
will be rejected if they are exposed.  So even while I am basking in 
acceptance, I live with the fear of being unmasked, revealing that I am 
much less than what others think me to be.

When I consider my relationship with God, therefore, I tend to feel that 
His affection to me is based on my performance.  When I do well, He 
loves me; but if I foul up, then I expect only His scorn.

Yet God does not love us because we deserve it.  He loves us in spite of 
what we are.  First John 4:10 states, "In this is love, not that we 
loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son."  Because of what 
Jesus Christ has done for us, we know we are always loved by God.  That 
simple truth shatters our pride
and dispels our fear.

       - HWR

  Oh, such love, my soul, still ponder
    Love so great, so rich, so free!
    Say, while lost in holy wonder,
    "Why, O Lord, such love to me?"

                          - Kent

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
-------------------

Looking for God's love?  Look to Jesus Christ.

The Bible in One Year:  2 Kings 22-25

------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible 
Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA.  Written permission must be 
obtained from RBC for any further posting or distribution.  RBC provides 
a variety of Bible resources, which are free of charge.  RBC is not 
funded by any group or denomination, and support comes voluntarily from 
its Members and Friends. Write for more information, or call 1-800-598-
7221.
------------------------------------------------------------------