Rabbi Schneider - It's Real
You know, sometimes we don’t feel God’s love. I know I don’t always feel God’s love. Sometimes I’m just at such peace. Last night, when I went to sleep, laying on my pillow, I just felt such peace in my relationship with the Lord and the Holy Spirit. But some nights I don’t necessarily feel peace. It’s not because I’ve necessarily done anything wrong. It’s just that feelings are not the ultimate anchor of measuring how much God loves us. He loves you and I, whether we feel close to him or not. And a scripture that really helps us to anchor our faith in this revelation of God’s love for us is from the Book of Romans chapter 5, which says that «God demonstrated,» «he demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.»
Listen to this. While you and I were yet sinners, when we didn’t know God, we didn’t know God from a hole in our head, we never thought about God. But even when we did not ever think about God, when we didn’t know Him, Christ died for us. In other words, when the Father sent Jesus into the world, it wasn’t because the world was walking with him. But his love went out to the world that was walking astray from him. This is how faithful and how dependable God’s love is. So know that God loved you and I when we were yet sinners. He is not going to leave you because you fall.
Beloved, your faith and your security and your relationship with God is anchored in Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross for you. God’s love for you and I isn’t dependent on our obedience to Him. His love for us is unconditional. Now, this doesn’t give us (obviously) an excuse to sin. Because if we really experience the love of God, we’re going to have the fear of God and we’re going to have a desire to obey him.
Anyone that says they know God and practices sin as a habit, they don’t know the Lord. But on the other hand, we should be secure, Beloved, that Christ died for you and I while we were yet sinners. His love for us isn’t fickle. So when you lay your head on your pillow tonight, I want you to know that God loves you. The Father loves you, Yeshua loves you. Whether you feel him or not.