To Know That We Are Loved - 1 John 4:7-12

Have you ever felt unloved; as if alone in this world, and nobody really loves you? There is a God in heaven that Loves us so dearly; but so many of us are not able to fully experience that love, because of our own selfish hearts. It is really hard to conceive that our Heavenly Father not only forgives us of our sins; but that He also forgets them, for ever; to be remembered no more. It is hard for us to even begin to get a grip on that concept. Because we can not do it ourselves, it is hard to imagine that God can. If you think you are capable of 'forgiving and forgetting', think again. In Matthew 18:21, Peter came to Jesus and asked, "How often shall I forgive my brother that sins against me? Seven times?"; Jesus answered, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven". You will notice Jesus did not say something like, 'You need to forgive and forget that your brother sinned against you even at all'; because Jesus, knowing man's heart is incapable of forgetting the wrong done to them, simply made the number of times really, really high; it would be almost impossible for someone to wrong his brother 490 times. Okay, so right about now you might be wondering; "What the heck does this have to do with knowing God loves me?"; a whole lot, is what. In 1 John 4:7-12; John explains to us in really simple terms, that God is love; and if we want to experience that love in our lives, we must practice it. How do we practice that love?, you might ask; well, I will ask you, How did God? In verse 9, John writes, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him". So we can see that God expressed His love for us by providing a way for our sins to be forgiven; that we might be reconciled back to Him. If we want to really experience that love in our lives, we need to live it by loving each other. In verse 12, John writes, "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us". So again, How do we know that God loves us?; by expressing that love in our own lives; and the simplest way to do that, is to forgive, just as we have been forgiven. In verses 10 & 11, John writes, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another". It is impossible to really experience God's love in our lives if we are harboring unforgiveness towards others in our hearts. In verse 8, John writes, "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love". Do you want to experience God's love today?; then think within your heart, if there is anyone you have not forgiven; and forgive them...