The love of God is found through out the Bible, with no greater example than Jesus dying on the cross so that we could have an opportunity for salvation (insert link to salvation article) .
It’s important for you to understand that Jesus loves you more than anything. Just see these following Bible verses to understand what I mean…
Love of God Verses
“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” (John 3:16).
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
“Yet in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
These are powerful scriptures that demonstrate God’s love for us. He gave everything so we could have everlasting life.
Paul lets us know that we are more than conquerors and there is nothing that can separate us from God’s great love.
However, one of the biggest questions I have come across is: Does God Love Me?
With so many verses giving us an emphatic YES to this question, many people still have this question eating away at their mind and heart.
It’s one thing to be told God loves you, but sometimes it helps to have a concrete example of what God’s love looks like to really understand just how deep His love runs.
Jesus Teaching the Multitude and Calming the Storm
In Mark chapter 4 we find Jesus teaching a great crowd with parables. He taught them several aspects of the kingdom of God focusing mostly on planting seeds.
After a whole day of teaching, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Let us cross over to the other side.” Jesus was referring to crossing over to the other side of the sea of Galilee.
This particular sea is known for sudden onsets of intense storms, which was exactly what happened while Jesus and the disciples were crossing the Galilean sea.
Afraid the boat would sink, the disciples woke up Jesus who spoke to the storm: “Peace, be still!” Immediately the winds stopped, and there was a great calm.
Jesus performed a great miracle and they were able to finish crossing the sea to arrive at the country of the Gadarenes.
The Possessed Man Known As Legion
As soon as Jesus and the disciples got out of the boat, a possessed man from the tombs met them on the shore.
Mark paints a grim picture of this man in Mark Chapter 5:
The man with an unclean spirit
-banished from his family to live in the tombs
-often bound with shackles and chains
-could never find rest
-was always crying out and cutting himself
This man was living a sad and hopeless life. He was rejected by society, living in a graveyard, and tormented day and night by the evil spirits that possessed him.
To understand just how tormented this man was, take a look at the name he gave when Jesus asked his name: “My name is Legion; for we are many.”
You can deduce that the evil spirits were answering Jesus with that response.
The definition for the word legion gives you an idea of what the evil sprits meant when they said “we are many.”
Legion – the principal unit of the Roman army comprising 3000 to 6000 foot soldiers with cavalry.
This guy was being tormented by as many as 3000 to 6000 evil spirits. No wonder his life was in shambles.
However, when he saw Jesus getting off the boat, not a single one of those evil spirits could stop him from running towards Jesus and worshipping.
Jesus delivered the man and sent all those evil spirits into a herd of pigs.
This man went from cutting himself and being tormented to “sitting, clothed, and in his right mind.”
What an amazing miracle! Jesus did what no one else could do for this man in just a matter of moments.
The Love of God Revealed in Mark 4 and 5
For many years I read Mark chapter 4, would get to the part where Jesus saved the disciples by speaking to the sea, and would think: “Wow! Look how powerful Jesus is.”
I did the same thing when I read Mark chapter 5. Jesus came across a man possessed by thousands of evil spirits, spoke delivering words, and the man was instantly set free.
Both stories show just how powerful Jesus is. Just by speaking a few words, he made the sea calm and cast out thousands of spirits. No wonder Paul said in Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
However, I overlooked something very important: an amazing example of the love of God.
In Mark 4:35 Jesus said to the disciples that they were going to cross the sea. He didn’t give them any further explanation or reason for this trip.
And for a long time I thought the purpose was to test the disciples’ faith through the storm that nearly sank their boat.
Then one day it hit me…
Jesus didn’t take the disciples across the sea of Galilee just to test their faith. That was just a byproduct of the trip.
Jesus went across the sea and faced a storm to have an encounter with a man who no one else wanted anything to do with.
Did you get that?
The possessed man was a gentile who lived before Jesus went to the cross. The Holy Ghost had not been poured out yet, the time of the gentiles hadn’t arrived yet, and Jesus’ earthly ministry was focused on Israel.
In other words, the man had no hope at all.
Jesus stopped what he was doing in Israel so He could cross the Galilean sea to have an encounter with a gentile.
Jesus didn’t stay to minister to anyone else on the Gadarenes side of the sea. He crossed over the Galilean sea to deliver the one man who no one else could or would reach.
It’s a powerful example of just how deep God’s love truly is.
Want to Know Something Just as Amazing?
Jesus loves you that much and more. He gave his life so you could have access to salvation. He will stop heaven and earth to have an encounter with you.
So the next time you hear “Jesus loves you,” don’t take that for granted. Jesus doesn’t just love this world and He doesn’t just love the church, He loves you.