No Reason to Doubt God's Gracious Love

The world is a place where it is easy to become discouraged. When one’s day does not go according to plan and one becomes worried, distressed and fearful, one should turn to God’s Word of promise. In Scripture, people find themselves enveloped and covered in God’s love.

When people struggle in their lives, they start to doubt the plans that God has for them. However, when they become worried and impatient, He assures them and all people, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 EHV) and “Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6). God does not want His people to worry or fear about anything but rather trust their lives and future into His loving hands because He loves and cares for all people. In His Word, He tells us that He, “wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Everyone can know with absolute certainty that God loves them and wants them to be his. No one is excluded from the “all” or the “world.” God displayed this gracious love to all people through the life, death and resurrection of His Son. Jesus was the long-promised savior who came to save humanity from their sinful condition. This same Savior gave us the beautiful words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” This loving Savior, Jesus, spread his arms on the cross and suffered the punishment of death that all people deserved. These same outspread arms welcome people of all nations, races, and backgrounds to come to him for comfort, peace, and rest. Despite one’s imperfections, sins, and shortcomings that stare one in the face, Jesus, by His grace, wipes these away and renews the hearts of penitent sinners who come to Him for forgiveness. In Him, all people find true love and the comfort of the Gospel, as Paul declares in Romans 5:8, “But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The God who loves all people has shown the world that He truly wants them all to be His. He has also given His people the ability to love. As the Apostle John writes in his first epistle, “This is how we have come to know love: Jesus laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16). Jesus loves and cares for all sinners who are in need of forgiveness of sins. Those who are now His disciples have been and still are in this same condition. As a believer, one should also have compassion for those who need the Gospel message and the forgiveness of sins. Jesus uses those who trust in Him to bring this love and forgiveness to all people. He truly wants all people to be saved and to come to Him for comfort and peace from the worldly terrors that they face. He will wipe every tear from the eyes of all who believe and will embrace them in His loving arms as His to live with Him forever.

In this world, there will be no lack of trouble. Thanks be to God who showed compassion to the human race and who now offers salvation to all through the life and work of his Son, the Savior, Jesus. In Him, one has no reason to doubt God’s love or to fear. God’s Word is a truth to which all people can cling. They can trust that their trek in this valley of tears will only last but a while. Then, at their end, the Heavenly Father will bring all who trust in him to their heavenly home to be with Him forever. Amen.