This Is How God Feels About You
By Rick Warren
“Long before he laid down the earth’s foundations, [God] had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love” (Ephesians 1:4 MSG).
When my three children were small, I used to sneak into their room at night and sit down by the side of their bed and just watch them sleep. I got so much joy from it! I’d watch their chests rise and fall. I got so much pleasure out of watching them sleep peacefully because I was their father. They were created simply out of my love.
That’s the way your heavenly Father is toward you. God looks at you, and he loves you simply because he made you.
The Bible says, “Long before he laid down the earth’s foundations, [God] had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love” (Ephesians 1:4 MSG). Before God even created the universe, he thought of you. The Bible says that the entire universe was created simply so God could create the human race so he could love us. We are the focus of his love, unlike anything else in creation — unlike animals or angels or stars or anything else. We were created to be loved by God.
If you ever grasp the profound truth I just shared with you and let it sink into your soul, you will never again have a problem with insecurity or low self-esteem. Because when you realize that God created the entire universe just so he could create the conditions so that human beings could exist so he could create you and love you, it will take away all those feelings of insecurity. God created you in order to love you.
In Hosea 6:6 God says, “I don’t want your sacrifices — I want your love; I don’t want your offerings — I want you to know me” (Hosea 6:6 TLB). That’s the first purpose of life. The most important thing you can know is that God created you to love you. And the most important thing you can do in life is to know and love him back. That’s the number one purpose in life.
The tragedy is most people go through their entire life missing the purpose of it. They know all kinds of things — stock quotes, sports scores, who’s on the cover of People magazine — but they don’t know God.
You may know about God, but do you know him personally? Do you have a friendship, a love relationship with God? That’s the first step you need to take today.
Playtoday’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
Talk It Over
- How can you give God more of your love?
- What do you need to do so that you can know God better?
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life - Gift Edition
Would you like to help your friends and family live the Purpose Driven Life? One of the best ways to stay focused on God’s plan is to stay in God’s Word, and Pastor Rick Warren has an effective resource that will enable YOU to quickly find Bible verses that are indispensible for living a life of purpose.
We call this resource Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life. In it, Pastor Rick has taken all the key verses that explain how God created each of us for five purposes and put them into an easy-to-use reference tool that will help anyone study and memorize God’s Word.
When you give a gift to support Daily Hope this month we’ll send you a copy of this beautiful book… and if you choose to make your donation a monthly donation, we’ll send you a special signed copy of Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life to thank you for joining our Partner in Hope team by giving a scheduled gift each month to support Daily Hope.
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This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can also listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
