Ask Us: Does God Love Terrible People?

We are blessed to have one spiritual mama who has a knack for guiding others in their faith. In this series, we’ll be asking questions for Bridgette to ponder and respond to. This week’s question is about God’s love. Enjoy!

Hi Bridgette!
Do you think everyone at some point in their lives experiences God’s love, whether they know it or not? I was thinking about some truly terrible people in this world, and the fact that they are–in fact, children of God just like me.  Does God show himself to these people, and do they run away? Or maybe they don’t recognize the feeling as God’s love? 

Thanks for taking my question! 

Well first off…yes, yes and probably. God is love. His love is always available to us. Think of this analogy: when it rains, you can put up your umbrella, but that doesn’t stop the rain. It’s still raining. All you’ve done is prevent yourself from getting wet. God’s love is always raining down on us, but we put up barriers to that love…umbrellas, if you will. And what is the biggest barrier? Sin. Sin draws us away from God’s presence and numbs our hearts to feeling God’s love.

Does God show himself to the “truly terrible”? Of course. He loves each and every one of us equally, with a steadfast and unimaginable love. What mistakes can we fall into, however? Do you think that you need to work harder and harder to earn God’s love and favor? Or, perhaps, do you convince yourself that somehow you’re beyond redemption, so why even bother to try?

Ladies, the love that God has for you this second is the same love that we were created with, and it never changes no matter what we do. It’s God’s grace, freely given, not earned. All we have to do is accept it and receive. If you begin to doubt God’s love, just look at the cross. At the cross, Jesus measured your worth and declared you worth everything.

But what about those of us that don’t recognize the feeling of God’s love? Or, what going on when we run away from God’s presence? It comes down to a lack of hope to trust. Do most of us trust someone fully if we don’t know them? Not really. So getting to know God, spending time in prayer and reading his promises in the scriptures, these are ways to build that trust and to begin a steady awareness of our dependency on God.

God is always at our side. In fact, everything we do or say can either be an offering of worship and connection, or a step away from God. Sometimes we step forward in faith, and sometimes we step back in fear. Through it all, Jesus stays with us, full of joy when we place our trust in Him.