Years ago, I cuddled my one-year-old granddaughter. Looking into her sweet little face, I said, “Emma, do you know how much I love you?” Immediately, I sensed my heavenly Father asking me the same question.

“Sheryl, do you know how much I love you?”

I remember pausing to consider my heavenly Father’s grand question that day, but I’m sure I didn’t come close to grasping the full extent of His love.

How about you? Do you realize how much God loves you?

If you’re like me, you’ve made some pretty bad choices. And because of those mistakes, our relationships have suffered. We feel insecure. Sometimes we wonder why anyone would love us.

Especially God.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful, especially this Christmas season, if we could take God at His Word and absolutely believe that He loves us, despite everything we’ve done?

How would this truth transform us?

How would feeling secure in our heavenly Father’s love change how we see ourselves in the mirror? How would our ambitions and goals appear when illuminated by perfect, unconditional love?

And how would it impact our relationships? Would we begin to invest more time in others? Forgive easier and sooner?

Would we finally be able to forgive ourselves?

Believing God loves us – unconditionally – could change the way we celebrate Christmas.

But how can we know, without a doubt, that the creator of the universe really does love us, rebelliously flawed as we are?

Listen to God’s own words:

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8 ESV)

If this verse is too familiar, you might miss the beauty of its message. Take a moment and read it again, personalizing it and emphasizing each word:

“But God clearly shows and proves His own love for me, (your name), by the fact that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me, (insert your name again!).”

Let me ask once more (while also asking myself): Do we know, absolutely know, how much God loves us?

We’ll never fully comprehend how much our heavenly Father loves us. How could we ever truly grasp its vastness? Perhaps the more we think about this week’s verse and the more we speak it out loud in the first person, the more we’ll understand …

… how much He truly does.

What about you?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this post. (Your comment might also benefit others.)

• How would understanding God’s love for you change the way you celebrate Christmas?

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