John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
“Jesus loves you…and has a plan for your life”. These were probably the first words I heard from the mouth of those Jesus freaks so many years ago on the lakefront of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. Those are simplest yet deepest words I have ever heard in these last five decades; I feel like I haven’t scratched the surface of those two things in my life. He loves me because He wanted to not because of anything in me. He loved me while I was unlovely and has loved me every step of the way in my Christian walk. The second part is also beyond comprehension, how could He have a plan for someone as proud and rebellious as me? But He absolutely did. His plan has taken me literally all over the world and given me my favorite of all churches to pastor in New Orleans for Pete’s sake (sorry Peter). Charles Spurgeon has plenty to say about God’s unfathomable love, check it out.
“The love of God is a wonderful thing, especially when we see it set on a lost, ruined, guilty world. What was there in the world that God should love it? There was nothing lovable in it. No fragrant flower grew in that arid desert. Enmity to him, hatred to his truth, disregard of his law, rebellion against his commandments—those were the thorns and briars that covered the wasteland, but no desirable thing blossomed there.
Where did this love come from? Not from anything outside of God himself. God’s love springs from himself. He loves because it is his nature to do so. “God is love”. Nothing on the face of the earth could have merited his love, though there was much to merit his displeasure. This stream of love flows from its own secret source in the eternal deity, and it owes nothing to any earthborn rain or stream; it springs from beneath the everlasting throne and fills itself full from the springs of the infinite.”
So let me say this to you today, Jesus loves you and has a plan for your life. He loves you no matter where you have been or what you have done. He loves clean slates and new starts. He also has a plan for you that if He were to tell you about it you couldn’t believe it. Just receive His love, love Him back and let His plan begin. Things never dreamed of in your life are about to begin.