Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today’s message is titled “Experience Boundless Love” as we kick off a brand new series “The Invitation”. In this series, we’re going to talk about understanding the invitation that God has for all of us.
God has an open invitation to have an intimate relationship with Him for every one of us. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, whether it was five minutes ago or ten years ago, God’s love is boundless. It is human nature to form opinions of one another based on our biases, experiences, or observations of someone’s behavior. God is not opinionated when it comes to love. His love is complete and absolute. It is impossible for us to wrap our heads around just how much He loves us.
Today, we’re going to dive into what it means to experience God’s boundless love. This means there are no limits, preconditions, or prerequisites. There is absolutely nothing we need to do for God to love us unconditionally and completely. When we truly accept that God’s love is complete, no matter what we do, we can embrace a relationship with Him that will truly transform our lives. When we see just how much He loves us, and experience His love each day, we can live a life that truly honors God and brings us even closer to Him.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue our discussion of how we can experience the boundless love of God.
You Are Forgiven
Is there something you have done in your past that makes you cringe to your very core? Have you hurt someone? Have you hurt yourself? Are there things you have done that you regret doing? Have you spoken words in anger? Broken promises? Betrayed or neglected someone that you care about?
I could go down a list of examples of awful things we can do to one another, but the list would be very long. I confess I have done things in my past that I am truly ashamed of and embarrassed about. We need to know that no matter what we have done in our past, whether it was a few moments ago or many decades ago, when we ask God for forgiveness, He will forgive us. He will forgive us for every single thing that we have done, whether it was to ourselves or to someone else. We will be forgiven. God’s love is so absolute, there is nothing you can do on earth that would not warrant His forgiveness, if you ask for forgiveness.
Think about that. That level of love is simply unthinkable in how you and I interact with each other day to day. We have probably all felt anger, resentment, and even moments of hate for how others have treated us. Can you imagine wiping a slate clean with someone when they hurt you or others repeatedly, as long as they ask for your forgiveness? It really seems almost impossible to consider, but this is what God will do with all of us, when we approach Him asking for forgiveness.
Now, let me be clear: experiencing God’s boundless love is -asking- for His forgiveness. What we need to understand is that when we ask for forgiveness, we are forgiven. There is no discussion; there is no back and forth necessary for God. God knows every single thing we have done (or not done) already. We do not need to explain ourselves or rationalize. There may be consequences for our actions. If we break the law, the law will have guidelines for punishment, but God’s love for us is constant.
When you ask God to forgive you for what you did, He will wipe the slate clean as if it never happened. Here is a truth that may be difficult to sit with: there are many people in the world in positions of power doing incredible evil things, but if they have asked God for forgiveness, in God’s eyes, they are forgiven, no matter how much pain they have caused, no matter how many times they repeat the same behavior. God’s love is boundless and complete. We can only hope that those who do evil in the sight of God will experience God in a way that compels them to turn away from their actions.
If -you- feel you are unworthy of God’s love because of something you have done in your past, know that God loves you – more than you can imagine. If you ask Him for forgiveness, you are forgiven.
You Are Never Alone
I saw a headline the other day that the world’s greatest minds in psychology feel there is an epidemic of loneliness. They say that society has conditioned itself to rely upon digital screens to form connections with one another and, as a result, there is a lack of truly authentic relationships. Would you rather have 2000 followers on social media and not a single close friend or a single close friend and no social media following?
God asks us to forge genuine relationships with one another, but the dynamics of living life day to day, between our careers, our education, and raising our families, can make it difficult to set aside time to nurture relationships with others. While this dynamic is unavoidable in many situations, there is one simple truth that we should all know: We are never alone.
God is always with us. There is no place that you can go where you are outside of the reach of God. Taking that a step further, when we choose to live a life that honors a relationship with God, God will allow us to know and experience His presence.
There may be times when our circumstances in the natural world may make it appear that God is nowhere to be found. Sudden loss, financial hardship, and natural disasters are just a few examples that may tempt us to think that God was not present in these situations. The truth is that God is -always- with us, even in the midst of suffering. God’s ways are not our ways, so it is not always clear as to why God does or does not intervene in a difficult situation. We can, however, always know that we can lean on Him in difficult times. When we ask for His comfort, He will comfort us. When we ask for His guidance, He will guide us.
If you are feeling lonely, I encourage you to lean into a relationship with God. There is no situation in which God is far from you. He can be with you at work, at rest, at play and in every situation in between. Ask Him to keep you company. Ask Him to allow you to know of and feel His presence. When we can experience God’s presence, we can truly live a joy-filled and purposeful life, regardless of how things may appear in the natural world.
You Are Enough
Is there anything about you that you dislike? Do you feel ridiculed and mocked? Are there labels people in your circle or even society have placed on you?
Did you know God loves you -exactly- how you are? Did you know there is absolutely nothing you need to do to earn God’s love? Perhaps there are labels you’ve even given yourself: too lazy, too big, too small, too unattractive, too quirky, too incompetent, too slow, or too poor. Maybe there are things others say about you that you have come to accept, even though these things are hurtful to hear.
Here’s the simple truth: God made you, and in God’s eyes, you are beautifully and wonderfully made. God does not love you any more or less than the person you are standing next to. God does not love you more or less because of the labels that society has placed on you.
God’s love is boundless, complete, and absolute, even if society shuns you, mocks you, or considers you an outcast from the mainstream. God accepts you as you are, 24/7, in every single situation. As we spoke about earlier today, God even loves you despite whatever things you may have done in your past.
If you are being ostracized, shunned, or rejected by society, know that God will never, ever, under any circumstances, reject you. All too often, it is we as humans who openly reject, mock and speak offensively about God. For example, in most entertainment, God’s name is used in vain regularly throughout the program. Despite these behaviors, God’s arms are always open for us.
If you are waiting to approach God because you feel there is something you need to do first, know there is nothing you can do today, tomorrow, or at any time – absolutely nothing, that will keep Him from loving you. I recognize the train of thought that may lead you to feel you need to change yourself to be accepted by God. Unfortunately, this is how our society works. We all form biases that cause us to form judgements of people. We are rejected if we are not aligned with what others feel is acceptable.
This is not true with God. You are not only acceptable to God just as you are; you are a cherished and beautiful creation. Your mistakes do not make you unlovable to God. Your decisions from your past do not change God’s desire to comfort you with His Light and His Love.
If your roommate, your parents, or your coworkers shun you, reject you, or place labels on you, it does not change the fact that God sees no labels for you other than “beautifully and wonderfully made.” God’s invitation to you is to walk to Him just as you are at this very moment, without hesitation. Know that you will be embraced by Him with everlasting and boundless love.
Wrap Up
In today’s message we explore what it means to experience God’s boundless love. We’ve discussed that when we ask God for forgiveness, we will be forgiven. There is nothing we can do that will not be forgiven by God if we ask for His forgiveness. There may be consequences of our actions and outcomes from our decisions, but God’s forgiveness is complete and absolute when we ask Him for it.
If there are things we have done that we know are wrong and feel that these things will keep us far from God, we need not worry. We need only to approach Him with sincerity and humility and ask for His forgiveness for our actions. He has promised to categorically and completely forgive.
We also discussed the idea that we are never alone. God is always with us, and there is absolutely nowhere we can go where we will be separated from Him. God is available to us 24/7, no matter the situation or circumstance.
Often, in societal norms, it is completely natural to feel lonely as we tend to depend on relationships established through digital connections instead of authentic relationships where we can interact face-to-face. While today’s technology is powerful, it can become very easy to be isolated from others, despite signs of popularity in the digital world.
Regardless of what’s happening, if we are feeling alone (and even if we’re not), we should know that God is always with us. When we seek to have an intimate relationship with God, we can experience and feel His presence. God truly wants a relationship with each of us, and in this relationship, He will allow us to know His comfort that can only come from His presence living within us.
Last, we talked about the fact that we are enough. Society is very good at placing labels on all of us. We all hold biases, whether we like it or not, and the result is a world in which we may constantly feel like we’re trying to live up to the expectations of others to be accepted.
These societal pressures can even lead us to form judgments and opinions of ourselves, that we are even unworthy of God’s love because of what society says about us. This is simply not true. God accepts us and loves us unconditionally, just as we are.
There is absolutely no label that society can put on us, or that we can put on us for that matter, that changes the fact that God accepts us exactly how we are. Not only does God accept us as we are, God considers us beautifully and wonderfully made regardless of the opinion we may have of ourselves.
Know that God’s boundless love is ready to help you have a joy-filled and purposeful life. A life where God’s presence is a vital part of daily living.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Find Guidance on Your Journey With God
