What If God Loves You More Than You Think?

Many people struggle with distorted views of God, believing God only loves them when they’re good or that Jesus had to come to change God’s mind about humanity. This is far from the truth. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son (John 3:16). God’s love is constant, unchanging, and available to all—on our best and worst days. We are invited to  receive and accept God's love.

Imagine two very different days in your life. On one, you wake up early, pray, read the Bible, and live patiently and kindly. On the other, you oversleep, act grumpy, and fall into bad habits. Does God love you more on the good day? No. His love remains the same.

God doesn’t require us to meet a standard of perfection before loving us. His love is based on who He is, not who we are. This reality is freeing when we realize our worth in His eyes isn’t tied to performance.

Some people see God as distant or angry, only loving them because Jesus intervened. But the Bible never says God hated the world. Instead, He loved the world enough to send Jesus. Jesus didn’t change God’s mind about us; He came to reveal God's already deep love.

In Luke 2, the shepherds were the first to hear about Jesus' birth. Though they were social outcasts, God chose them to receive the Good News. This choice wasn’t based on merit but on God’s loving character. Similarly, His love for you is unconditional and doesn’t depend on your achievements.

Many believe God loves them but struggle to experience that love personally. Knowing about God’s love isn’t the same as experiencing it or feeling it in your soul.

The shepherds in the Christmas story understood this shift. They went from hearing about a coming Messiah to encountering Him in person. The result? They glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen (Luke 2:20).

Experiencing God’s love creates a deep, lasting joy that goes beyond mere intellectual belief. We can receive and accept God’s love in the deep parts of ourselves.

Receiving love can be uncomfortable, especially when we feel unworthy. It’s easy to project our experiences, opinions, and wounds onto God- to make assumptions about God and how God feels for us.

No matter how we think or feel, God has always and will always love us. God loves us because God is love (1 John 4: 7-9). Accepting His love means trusting that it’s real—even when we don’t feel deserving. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8: 38-39).

As we reflect on the season of Advent, consider how God might be asking you to open your heart. What misconceptions about Him need to be released? What areas of your life need to receive His love?

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist also had to adjust his understanding of God when Jesus asked him to perform His baptism. He couldn’t comprehend why Jesus, the sinless Son of God, would humble Himself like that. Jesus' actions flipped John’s expectations, showing how God’s love often challenges what we assume about Him.

When Jesus came to Earth, He didn’t arrive to change God’s mind about us. He came to change our minds about God. The birth of Jesus shows us God’s desire to be near to us, because God loves us. Jesus didn’t come with condemnation but with compassion and mercy.

Accepting God's love is a process. It takes time to open our hearts to receive God’s love and accept the reality of it. Paul writes in Ephesians that God is rich in mercy... because of His great love for us, we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:4-5). This grace patiently works within us, drawing us closer to God, no matter the pace of our journey.

This season, may we let our expectations be challenged and our hearts opened to receiving the love of God.