"God loves me too?"

Today I was sitting at Starbucks (I know big surprise there) and I was remembering this past summer. Many of you know I spent the summer in New York City working with an organization called Center for Student Missions (www.csm.org). I was a city host and led high school groups that came on mission trips around the city. I loved every second of it. It was an amazing experience.

Today, specifically, I was remembering a homeless guy that we met in Thompkin Square Park. We had just finished dinner at my favorite restaurant Sonar Gaow and did not finish all our food so the group I was hosting that week decided they want to pack it up to find someone to give it to. I thought it was a great idea and knew that at that time there were a lot of homeless that gathered in the park. For some reason though on this night there was not very many people in the park like I was expecting. We were about to give up and head to the subway to go home when we saw an older man sitting on a bench. Two of the girls from the group approached him with the food and said, “Here we want you to have this and we want you to know that God loves you”.

The man looked up at them with tears in his eyes and said, “God loves me too? I have done so many terrible things there is no way that God loves me too”. None of us were expecting an opportunity like this, but God knew and I know that he brought us to the park on that night for a reason. The group went on to share the Gospel with him and explain that there was absolutely nothing that he could do to make God stop loving him. He didn’t make a decision that we know of that night, but I know that the group had a big impact on him just by saying “we want you to know God loves you”.

Remembering this story got me thinking. How many people do I come in contact with on a daily basis that doesn’t know God loves them? Who do I know that if I were to tell them “God loves you”, their response would be surprise. The Message translation of Phillippians 4:3-5 says,

” Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean reveal in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you are on their side, working with them, not against them. Help them to see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute”!

Who do I know that doesn’t know God loves them? Can those people see me celebrating God everyday? What happens if Jesus does come back today and I never tell those people that God loves them and has an amazing gift for them?

What about you? Who in your life needs to hear the words “God loves you”. He could come back any minute. Time is running out to tell them. Don’t let any opportunity go by without telling those people “God loves you, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, God loves YOU and nothing can ever, ever take that away” . Aren’t you glad that you know that. Think about what it will mean to the people who don’t know it yet.

-Robbin, CSM New York City Host, Summer 2006
taken from her blog - check it out!