by Pastor Joel Lawler

God is crazy about us. He adores us. He wants to be close to us. He enjoys us. He takes joy in our joy and has loved us unconditionally and completely from the moment that we were created by Him.

In Genesis 1:25, God has just finished creating the plants and animals and He looks at all that He has created and says "it is good". I believe as God looked at Adam, His vision saw not only the man before Him but all that man's children. God not being bound by time, could look through the lineage and see each and every face of this one man's offspring. I believe He saw you and me. It was at this moment, in Genesis 1 verse 31, He said "it is very good."

I married a wonderful woman. I was smitten at first sight and it did not take much time for me to learn to love her. I was infatuated with her from the moment that I first saw her. It was fifteen years ago but I can remember it well. She was wearing a flower print black skirt, black shirt, black Asian shoes, her hair was pulled back and she had glasses on. I was sitting on the floor by our college cafeteria door waiting to go in for lunch. She worked in the cafeteria and walked by me and I did not take my eyes off of her. I was less than subtle. A friend sitting next to me made a comment about my fixed gaze.

I used to skip class and go to the cafeteria several times during the lunch

session just to see her. She made the deli sandwiches. She could have rubbed the bread across the floor and served it to me and I would have still come back for more.

Even though I was strongly attracted to the woman who became my wife from the first moment I saw her, it took time and getting to know her for me to learn to love her. The closer I got to her, the more I knew that she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I do have to mention that for her, I was a much harder sell. It took her a whole lot longer to fall in love with me. I have quite a few rough edges and am hardly a dashing knight in shining armor. Fortunately, for me, she found something worthy of her love in me.

After thirteen years of marriage, our love continues to grow. What was great at the start keeps getting even better.

There is something miraculous with being a parent. With my children, my love was instantaneous. As soon as they took their first breath, I loved them intensely. With all four of them, it happened exactly the same way, I loved them from the second they were born. They did not need to do anything, my love was unconditional and complete from the moment I saw them.

When I held each of my kids for the first time, a bond formed. I did not even need to think about it. I would take care of them, provide for them, protect them, and die for them.

God is our Father. My experience as a dad is limited by the fact that I am not perfect but God is perfect. His love for us is perfect like He is perfect.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more than He already does because His love is perfect. There is nothing you can do that will make God love you any less because His love for you is unconditional and not based upon your actions. You do not have to perform for God for Him to love you. Just like that helpless baby, I held in my arms, He loved you from the moment that He created you.
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