God loves you because God loves you.

The Word for today:
Psalm 144

The very first sentence in the book of Psalms tells us to meditate--day and night--on God's Word:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

So, let's chew on this for a while:
O LORD, what is man that you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him? (Psalm 144:3)

In the book of Ruth, we hear Ruth ask essentially the same question:
Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me? (Ruth 2:10)

Scripture teaches that the answer to this question is found not within us, but within God:
The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you... (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)

This is a revolutionary concept, so in order for it to sink in, let's turn it over in our minds:

**The Bible does not say that I am lovely.  The Bible does not say that I am lovable.  The Bible says that I am loved.

**God so loved the world because God is love.

**God didn't die for us because we were worthy. We are worthy because God died for us.

What are the ramifications of these truths? Let's say you had a bad day--a really bad, awful day. Or even a bad, awful, terrible year. Does that make you worthless?

No way! You are--and always will be--of infinite worth, because God set his love upon you.

***

We have just meditated ourselves all the way to the most delightful and liberating truth in the universe:

God loves you because God loves you.  And that's never going to change (1).

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(1) see 1 John 4:16 and Hebrews 13:8