I sometimes feel forgotten when friends and family forget it’s my birthday, they don’t show up for scheduled meetings or calls, or they forget important events or details of things I have told them. I can’t help but feel unloved in my sorrow and disappointment.
If this sounds all too familiar to you, we both need the reminder that God loves us. We can experience God’s love anytime. He always loves us and his love never fails.
We can go to his word, the Bible. We can take a moment to worship him. It’s in the silence that we hear his encouragement in our sorrow. He can help us accept the fact that we failed to receive love from others, and forgive them. His love is always available to us because it never leaves us.
What Is God’s Love?
God’s love is a perfect love. A love that your heart longs for. It’s a love that only a perfect Father can give.
He sacrificed his one and only son, Jesus, to die for you so all your sins are forgiven. It was the most selfless act ever, all so he could be reunited with you. To be with you always; to make things right for you; and to allow you to know his love always, in both good and bad times.
It’s true, real, genuine love that is always available to you. It’s unconditional, never-ending and unstoppable. It’s what you need to press into. It gives you a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” (1 John 4:16, NLT)
You can trust and depend on his love for you. People will disappoint you and not always love you well. You will do the same to them, too. We are imperfect.
God, however, will never harm you. The more you know his love, the more you can forgive others and their failings in not loving you well… because you are perfectly loved by him. You don’t need to intentionally seek it from anyone else.
How to Receive God’s Love
When you are disappointed by others and feeling unloved by them, remember that God’s love is always available to you. It meets you in your weeping to provide the peace and comfort you need. You can experience the love of God specifically by reading the Bible, praying to him in your pain, listening to him, engaging with worship music, or taking some time to soak in the beauty of his creation.
Actively doing things that will bring you closer to him will allow you to receive his love in the moment and remind you that you are loved. God wants you to experience his love in your pain of feeling unloved by others.
“Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” (Psalm 36:5-7, NIV)
You are so loved by him.
How to Experience God’s Love
God is love; as such, there are many examples of God’s love, including Bible stories of Jesus showing love.
These examples of love in the Bible allow you to answer the question “How do you experience God in your life?”
You can experience the glory of God in your life by his unfailing love for you. You can experience God’s love when you don’t feel loved by others by living your life as the Bible instructs. Here are 3 of those ways:
1. Following His Commands
God loves when you follow his commands (1 John 5:3). It shows him that you love him and in turn you will experience God’s love in great ways.
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21, NIV)
You will experience God’s love when he reveals himself to you more. Knowing God better is knowing love because God is love (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16).
His commands allow you to be like him and live like Jesus did. There is no greater way to draw closer to him to experience his love than to live like him and be like him. Everything he calls you to do gives you the best life.
God knows it all and knows the best way for you to live. Follow his commands to experience his love in great ways.
2. Living in Step With the Holy Spirit
God’s love lives within us because of the Holy Spirit.
“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5, NIV)
That love is always there but you need to be continually acknowledge the Spirit each day. To experience more of God’s love, you shouldn’t deny the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
Having more of the Holy Spirit means you can experience his love more. Choose to live according to God. You can make the Spirit sad when you live in opposition to how God calls you to live.
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30, NIV)
Don’t live against God, as this makes the Holy Spirit sad. Live as God calls you, seeking to fulfill his purposes and plans for your life. Further his kingdom. This allows the Spirit to radically live through you and you’ll thus experience God’s love in greater ways.
3. Not Living in Fear
God doesn’t want you living in fear. He has not given you a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). Fear stops you from fully living for God, which in turn stops you from experiencing God’s love.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18, NIV)
If you want to experience God’s love, you need to give your fears to him. You need to know there is nothing to fear because he has the best for you. He will not lead you into harm. Don’t let fear win out—experience his love in great ways by living the life he has for you.
When you are hurt by others and feel unloved, remember that God loves you. You can experience God’s love always by living as the Bible tells you, following his commands, living in step with the Holy Spirit and not living in fear. God’s love is constant for you. You are so loved.
