You can’t make God love you.  You can’t.

I’ve said this before in sermons at Asbury, so of you may have heard this statement before and know where I’m going with this, but let me say it again.

You can’t make God love you.

If you are living your life doing all that you can do to earn God’s love, you will never earn it and you will live your life trying to earn something that simply cannot be earned.

You can’t make God love you.

You don’t have to.  He simply loves you.  NO.  MATTER.  WHAT.

Listen to what Paul tell us in Romans 5 today:

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Christ died for us not because we deserved it or had earned that grace and forgiveness.  In fact, He did it for the exact opposite reason.  He did it because we couldn’t.  He gave us grace because we couldn’t earn it.

You don’t need to live your life trying to earn God’s love.  You need to live your life as a response to God that loves you more than you would ever think possible.

You don’t need to make God love you. He already does.  You don’t have to earn God’s love.  It’s already given.  That’s why it’s called grace.  It’s not earned.  It’s not deserved.  It’s a free gift from an amazing God.

Today, you are loved.  Know that.  Believe that.  Live in that.  You are loved.  Today.

Live in the depth of God’s grace.  And in that, you’ll find life worth living.