Why does God love us?
"Why does God love us?"
 This short question
is asked alot. And no
human would ever be able to answer it sufficiently. One thing is
certain. God does not love us because we are lovable or because we
deserve His love. If anything, the opposite is true. The state of
mankind since the fall is one of rebellion and disobedience. Jeremiah
17:9 describes man’s inner condition: "The heart is deceitful and
desperately wicked. Who can know it?” Our innermost being is so messed
up by sin, that even we don't understand how messed up we have become.
In our natural state, we do not seek God; we do not love God; we do not
desire God. Romans 3:10-12 clearly tells us the state of the natural,
unregenerate person: "There is none righteous, no, not one; There is
none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all
turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who
does good, no, not one.” You ask, how is it that a perfect God would
love us? To understand this we must understand something of the nature
and character of God.
First John 4:8 and 16 tell us that "God is
love.” Never was a more important statement made than this; never was
more meaning put into a few words than in this short sentence—God is
love. This is a profound statement. God doesn’t just love; He is love.
His nature is love. Love permeates His very being and infuses all His
other attributes, even His wrath and anger. Because God’s very nature is
love, He must demonstrate love, just as He must demonstrate all His
attributes because doing this glorifies Him. Glorifying God is the
highest, the best, and the most important of all acts, so, naturally,
glorifying Himself is what He must do, because He is the highest and the
best, and He deserves all glory.
Since it is God's essential
nature to love, He demonstrates His love by showing it to undeserving
people who are in rebellion against Him. God’s love is not a sappy,
sentimental, romantic feeling. It is love, the love of self-sacrifice.
He demonstrated this love by sending His Son to the cross to pay the
penalty for our sin (1 John 4:10), by drawing us to Himself (John 6:44),
by forgiving us of our rebellion against Him, and by sending His Holy
Spirit to live in us, helping us to love as He loves. He did this in
spite of the fact that we did not deserve it. "But God demonstrates His
own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us" (Romans 5:8).
God's love is personal. He knows each of us
individually and loves us personally. His is a mighty love that has no
beginning and no end. It is this experiencing of God’s love that sets
Christianity apart from all other religions. Why does God love us? It is
because of who He is: "God is love.
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