God, Do You Love Me?

Posted: September 15, 2014

When children are young they always seem to be looking for attention. They hunger for affection, affirmation, and approval. Even in misbehavior they are often asking a question: "Do you love me?"

When we become adults naturally, we become more socially sophisticated, but we ask the same kinds of questions of others, and ultimately of God: "God, do you love me? Do you care?"

Jesus understood the doubts, anxieties, and fears of human beings and he sought to change our thinking from fear to faith, from anxiety to trust, and from feeling abandoned to feeling accepted and cared for. Jesus brought comfort to us when he said:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:25-34, ESV).

God is not described as distant or uninvolved (deism). Rather, He invites us to call him "Father". The use of this image is intentional, because the picture of a father should stir in us an image of care, love, and leadership. God cares enough to be involved with the smallest of details of our lives. I don't know if you feel this way today, but reflect on these words and then look outside at the birds. God cares for them – but he cares even more for you and for me.

That is indeed a comforting truth.