Thankful, part 2

Thanksgiving day is a week away, so I want to take the week leading up to this American holiday to celebrate a few of the things I'm thankful for. I invite you to share your thoughts as well as we give thanks for all that God is and all he has done. This idea of being thankful is a daily practice for many of us, but with a holiday set aside to be thankful this is a great time to talk about all of God's blessings.............

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Part 2- I'm thankful that God loves me.

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John 3:16 "This is how much God loved Mike: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." (THE MESSAGE edited by Mike)

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One of the things we don't know about God is how he looks at us, how he feels about us. We don't know that unless he tells us. This short verse, the most familiar in the bible, tells me how God views me. Note that this verse was spoken by Jesus (God the son) himself. In other words he said, "I want you to know how much the father and I love you....we love you so much that we decided to give the most valuable gift imaginable to demonstrate that love, we decided to give ME (Jesus)." Jesus loved the Father so much that he obeyed and came, and he loved me so much that he died to save me....as I unpack this idea I get overwhelmed by how big God's love is for me. It's more than I can even imagine.
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Being loved without qualification, without expectation gives me a comfort, a peace, a hope that changes how I view God, myself and the world around me. I am loved not for what I have done, not for how I look, not for my money, not for my brains....I'm loved because God loves me.....that's it. What an amazing blessing, and I've only just shared with you a few drops from the ocean of his love for us. It's so much more than we can even understand. We are loved by the one who made us, and it's shown in his son who became a man and died for our sins.

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Today I'm thankful that God loves me.

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