We are dearly loved by Susan Barnes

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved." Colossians 3:12

God considers us his dearly loved children but often we don't see ourselves this way. Sometimes our view of God is distorted by our past experiences with our earthly fathers or other authority figures. If we have a distorted view of God as someone who is only slightly better than our human father then we will not have a right understanding of how much God loves us. Even the best parents were not able to love us perfectly.

However God is the perfect Father who always acts in our best interests. We never have to wonder about his motives or question his intentions. His dealings with us are always for our good.

If we had a personal relationship with a famous person it would be special yet we have the opportunity to have a relationship with the King of the universe. The fact that God even notices us is amazing but that he gave us his Son is overwhelming. Reflecting on the death and resurrection of Jesus deepens our appreciation of the Father's love.

In Ephesians 5:1 Paul tells us to act as "dearly loved children". Before we can behave like loved children we have to believe that we are. Regardless of what we may think of ourselves, we need to accept God's view and see ourselves as his dearly loved children.

Susan, an Australian pastor's wife, loves to enrich people's understanding of God. She writes thoughts on Bible passages, book reviews and inspirational articles. Contact