I heard a sermon the other day about loving God, and it got me to thinking. I've always believed in God and been respectful toward Him, but I can't honestly say that I love God. After all, I think it's hard to love someone who is as strict as God is. What am I missing? — Mrs. C.R.

What you are missing is an understanding of what God is really like, and what He has done for you. Once you understand what the Bible teaches us about God, it will be almost impossible for you not to love Him!

It's true that God is pure and holy, and because of that we should respect Him and seek to please Him. But listen: No matter how hard we try, we will always fall short of God's standard—and the reason is because God's standard is nothing less than perfection. The Bible puts our problem plainly: "There is no one righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10).

This is why God sent His Son into the world. God loves us; He loves us so much that He wants us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. But how was this possible, since we are all sinners? There was only one way for us to be saved: Jesus Christ—who was perfect and sinless—took our sins upon Himself, and He died in our place. We deserve to die for our sins, but He took upon Himself our death and our Hell. He did it out of love.

Do you want to know if God loves you? Look at Christ—for He is the final proof of God's love. The Bible says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Give your life to Christ, and thank Him every day for His love for you.