Still There

A seventeen year old girl sitting on the back stairs of a conference center where a Christian youth conference was being held. She was about to graduate high school, had been accepted into Bible school and had her whole life ahead of her. She was in tears and a youth leader from a different group came and sat down next to her. After a brief conversation the leader asked the girl, "Are you a believer?" For the first time in her life the girl gave a heartbreaking answer, "I don't know."

As they talked more the girl confided that she didn’t understand how God could love her, or forgive her after the decisions she’d made. They weren’t just mistakes. The teenage girl knew that what she had been doing was wrong but she’d chosen to walk away from God anyways. She’d been living her life away from the Lord and didn’t know the way back. The leader pointed to her young child and explained that no matter what he did in his life she would always love him. She challenged the teenager with these words. “If I as an imperfect human can love my son that much then how much more can God, who is perfect, love you, His child.”

From there she was able to counsel the teenage girl until the teenager got to the point of rededicating her life to Christ. That was nine years ago and today I’m still so grateful for that woman who God sent to intervene in my life because I was that teenage girl.

The details of my story may be unique but the theme, sadly, isn’t. So many people struggle with feeling like God doesn’t love them or can’t forgive them. They get lost and they don’t know how to find their way back to Him. Today I want to remind you of some of God’s words on this very subject.

You’re right, people screw up and you’re no exception.

Romans 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

Romans 3:10 “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one…”

There are consequences of that sin.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned-“

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

There’s more to the story though, you need to understand the bigger picture.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

So here’s the solution-

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

And here’s the response, this part’s your decision and no one can make it for you.

Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

But here’s the assurance that God promises.

Romans 10:13 “…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

And this is the result.

Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

My friends if you feel today that God has forgotten you or abandoned you the verses above, straight from the NIV translation of God’s word make in abundantly clear that He has not. He loves you. It doesn’t matter what sin you’ve committed or how long you’ve been away. God, your loving Father, has been waiting for you to come back to Him. He’s still waiting. He loves you that much. Just turn around and you’ll find Him, reach out your hand and grasp His, it’s there, He’s reaching out to you and He has been all this time. 

I also want to leave you with the words of the chorus from Matthew West's song "More". 
"I love you more then the sun 
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine and you shine for me too
I love you
Yesterday 
And today
And tomorrow 
I'll say it again and again
I love you more"

God loves you friends, more then you will ever know.