When we think of God's love for us, we think of Jesus. God sent his own son to die for our sins. He crucified His beloved on a cross, so that we may live. I mean, talk about love! Jesus is a perfect reflection of God's love for us in his life, his death and his resurrection. In retrospect, the Gospel is more than enough for us to gaze at God's love for His children, and far more than what we deserve.
BUT...
God's love runs even deeper than that. It is so easy for us to compartmentalize God. We have a section in our brains that contains church and religion, and then we have sections for relationships, education, and everything else. If we believe that God is sovereign, we should believe that He is in every section of our brains. And He is! He is the One who blesses us in our relationships with others, our jobs, our educations, and everything else. And why should He? He already crushed His son for us... Shouldn't that be enough?
God blesses us because he loves us THAT much. He takes part in our joys, and every other feeling we cast upon Him. His love for us runs deeper than we can ever imagine, and it was present even in the beginning of time: The creation of the world.
As God created the universe, he evaluated His work after each day and "saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25). He said it after creating the earth, the seas, the vegetation, the lights in the sky, sea creatures and birds, and livestock. In verses 26-31, we get our first image of God's love for us.
He made us in His image.
God, the creator of the universe, made us in HIS image. He knows how mighty and powerful and wonderful He is, and he chose to give us His image.
He gives us dominion over the earth and the creatures that roam it.
Next, God gives us the power to rule over the good creations that He had just made. He doesn't give dominion to the livestock, or to the sea creatures. He holds us in such high regard that he gives us control over what is His.
He blessed us.
I already touched on this one earlier in the article, but it deserves to be emphasized! God created us, gave us dominion over creatures and land, then He even BLESSED us.
In Genesis 2, God exposes His love for us once again in the garden of Eden. This is the first time we get more of an introduction to the humans that God created. He put Adam in the garden so that he could work and keep it. God's encounters with Adam reflect His abundant love for us.
He commands Adam not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
His instructions were out of love and protection for Adam. God didn't want His creation to die, and He knew that would be the result of eating from that specific tree. God's commandment here was strictly for the good of Adam.
He gives Adam a companion and helper.
We all know that one of the sweetest things on this earth is our friendships and relationships. God knew that it was not good for man to be alone, so He provided another person for Adam. (Side note: God put Adam in a deep sleep so that he could take one of his ribs to make a woman without hurting him.) Again, God's loving aim was for Adam's good.
He let Adam name all of the creatures of the earth.
Last but definitely not least, this one is my favorite. God's tenderness and affection for Adam was so great that he brought every beast, bird and sea creature that HE created to him to name. Verse 19 says, "and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name." Our Father, God, simply loves His children so much.
It's hard to fathom the love that God has for us because no one else loves us even one percent as much. Our friends don't, our spouses don't, even our parents don't. Whenever you need to be reminded how much Our Heavenly father adores you, read Genesis 1 and 2. Praise be to His name!
