God Created You And Loves You

Did you know that God loves you and created you to be in a relationship with him?

When God created Adam and Eve, he created them in his image.

God’s image is spiritual.

This means Adam and Eve were spiritual beings living in a physical body.

Adam and Eve had the God-designed capacity to know him.

None of God’s other creations were designed by God with a built-in spiritual capacity to know him.

Only people were.

There is something inside every person that longs to connect to God…to know God.

This longing is in you, too.

This is because, like Adam and Eve, you are a spiritual being living in a physical body.

You were created by God to be connected to him…to know him.

Not only are you created by God to know him, but you were created by God to be loved by him.

God loves you and created you to experience his love.

Jesus talks about God’s love for you, for everybody in the world when he said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Not only did God design you with a built-in capacity to know him, but he he also created within you the ability to believe in Jesus so that you will not perish in eternal death but will have eternal life.

God’s love for you is deep, and he demonstrated his love for you when Jesus died for you.

Why did Jesus need to die for us?

In the Garden of Eden, God did not force Adam and Eve to know him…to experience his love; rather, God gave them the opportunity walk away from him, to live independently from him.

The tree in the middle of the garden provided Adam and Eve with the opportunity to choose to disconnect from God, which they did when they ate of the tree.

Some may ask, “Why did God put the tree in garden?”

That’s a good question.

The reason is that God did not create us as robots designed to automatically know him, with no choice involved.

He did not design us as computers with a software program that automatically knows him.

Love does not operate that way.

Love does not force a person to love someone.

God did not force us to love him…to know him…to be connected to him.

For love to be love, there must be a choice involved.

Therefore, God provided the tree in the Garden of Eden as the opportunity for Adam and Eve to choose to know God or to be disconnected from God.

Adam and Eve chose to disconnect from God and to live independently from him.

This choice is called sin.

With this choice, sin and death entered the human race (Romans 5:12-21), affecting everyone.

We all have sinned.

We have sinned in many different ways and at many different times.

Like Adam and Eve, we have all made decisions that are opposite of the decisions God wanted us to make.

Many of us live in regret, shame, and guilt as a result of these decisions.

However, because of God’s love for us he took upon himself our sins and our death.

By doing this, God has enabled us to choose to be connected to him, to know him.

Just like Adam and Eve were given the ability and opportunity by God to choose to walk away from him…to be disconnected from him, all of us have been given the ability by God to choose to walk to him…to be reconnected to him.

And what is this choice?

It’s simply to believe.

That’s it…believe.

It’s just what Jesus said,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

If you have never believed in Jesus for the purpose of being connected to God, or for the purpose of knowing God, or you are not sure, you can do that today.

Below is a simple prayer to express your belief.

God, I do not understand everything about you or about life. But I believe you love me and created me to know you. I believe Jesus died for my sins. I believe he rose from the dead and now offers me eternal life. Today, I acknowledge my belief in Jesus. I am now connected to you.

By making this decision today to believe in Jesus, you are connected to God.

You may be thinking, “What now? What’s next?”

That’s normal.

If so, read Now That I Have Believed, What’s Next?