In Case You Forgot: Jesus ACTUALLY Loves You!

I was babysitting two of my favorite little boys, and it was time for bed. After a non-stop, eventful day of riding bikes, playing basketball, and baking cookies, I tucked in the kiddos. Five-year-old John cuddled by my side, and as the peaceful quiet of night filled the room, I read him a bedtime story.His little eyes were barely open and his head was sinking deep into his pillow, when all of a sudden he tenderly whispered three simple words: “Jesus loves you!” My heart melted immediately. Enamored, I said “Aww. Thank you, John. Jesus loves you, too.” I paused for a moment, smiled and continued on with the story.Just a few seconds passed when he unexpectedly repeated the words in his innocent voice, “Jesus loves you!”Smiling ear to ear, I replied, “That’s so sweet, John. Thank you.”We’d only made it to page three when again John whispered, “Jesus loves you!”Again, I said, “Aww, thank you.” Back and forth we went, and after five or six exchanges, it finally hit me.

The most powerful and life-changing words a person could ever hear were coming straight out of a five-year-old boy’s mouth.

I was raised in a Christian household. My parents and grand-parents are pastors of a vibrant church, and I started preaching when I was 15 years old. Although I had literally heard that simple truth my entire life, that night in that little bunk bed, something changed on the inside of me. It was like I was hearing those words for the very first time. I was fresh out of a divorce, babysitting, trying to figure out where my life would go from there and, in the midst of it all, a five-year-old was telling me Jesus loves me.I wanted to cry. I wanted to shout. I wanted to laugh. Jesus loves me — could it truly be? Even after I had acted so unimaginably ugly and made so many wrong decisions? Even though I hated who I believed I had become as I looked at myself through the lens of my failures? Even though others had a negative opinion of me? I was convinced I was damaged goods, forever tainted by that one moment in time.

I had even been on the verge of taking my own life; I felt stuck in a dark pit, not knowing how my life would ever be the same again.

I had done so much wrong and experienced immense shame, hopelessness, and pain. But guess what? None of that had changed a single thing. Jesus still loved me!Right there in that wooden bunk bed, my heart was flooded with light personally knowing that, without a doubt, Jesus loved me. And God had a wonderful plan of victory for my life. There is nothing like the love of God to kick open the floodgates of joy and radically illuminate a person with the assurance that somehow, God is going to turn their circumstances around for their good!Get ready for the best part. Those same, three powerful words apply to you: Jesus loves you. If He loves and believes in anybody, trust me, it’s you. Let that simple yet massive truth take root in your heart. The same way Jesus loves me is the same way He loves every person on the face of the planet.

Jesus loves you, and His love is unending, unconditional, and unchanging.

Did you get that? Jesus loves you—yes, you!If you are like me and have heard these words your entire life, right now, allow your heart to hear it as if it were the very first time: Jesus loves you. These three words contain the power to transform your life if you will let them. And if you have never heard those words before, let me be the first to say them to you: Jesus loves you. At this very moment, you can choose to let the power of His limitless love set your soul free. He loves you with everything He is. After everything you have or haven’t done and all the mistakes you have made, even smack dab in the middle of that huge mess you are facing right now, He still loves you and has a purpose for your life.Jesus knows the moments that have brought you so much pain and caused you to become disappointed in yourself. Right there, even if you’re within the walls of that prison cell or on the floor of that dark bathroom where you’re hopelessly turning to drugs, know this: Jesus loves you. We can never hear that too many times. Jesus loves you, and He always will. He loves you individually. He loves you specifically. God is for you and He believes in you. He paid the highest price imaginable to do what you could never do — rescue yourself from that pit of despair. God wants to take the very thing the devil meant to destroy, and by His grace, turn it around for your good! Jesus wants to exchange your past for a future full of hope. The good life of victory has your name on it!

What glorious freedom is found in the truth that you are forever loved.

Yet, it is one thing to hear that phrase and say you know it and a completely different thing to go beyond just knowing to the point that you deposit all your trust and all of who you are upon the foundation of God’s unchanging love.First John 4:16 says, “And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us” (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition). When you become convinced God loves you individually and that He is on your side, His love will become so alive to you that it will define who you are. His love has the power to remove all shame and give definition to your life if you are willing to go one step beyond knowing and choose to believe. Be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that you believe something just because you have heard it for so long. Familiarity and belief are not the same thing.You must not allow what other people say and your own self-perception to foster the hidden belief that says, “Of course God loves a good person like you, but He does not really care about me; I’ve messed up way too much.” Perhaps you have always had a picture of God upset, mad, or frustrated with you. Maybe you feel like a worthless failure and find it difficult to love yourself, so you have no reason to believe anyone else could. Maybe no one has ever told you they love you, or perhaps the people who said they did are nowhere to be found.No matter where you are today and no matter what you have gone through, hear this with your whole heart: God loves you with everything He is, and that love will never go away. Rest knowing that His love isn’t like the “love” of this world, based on performance or behavior. He doesn’t say He loves you and then walk out a week later. He isn’t going anywhere. He always has loved you, and He always will.