A noble word

In Malachi 1:2, the Lord has a complaint against His people: I have loved you deeply. And you say, ‘Wherein have You loved us? In Malachi’s prophecy, we observe that whenever the Lord said something to His people, they questioned Him.

Here they questioned the love of God. That is one way by which Satan makes us fall. When Satan tempted Eve, he first planted a doubt about God’s love in her mind. The implication of the temptation was, ‘God doesn’t really love you. If He did, He would have allowed you to eat this beautiful fruit.’ That made Eve doubt God’s love. She began to think, ‘Perhaps God doesn’t love me.’ And then she fell into sin easily.

When the Lord prayed for Peter, He said, ‘Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail.’ (Luke 22:31-32). The Lord prayed that even after Peter had fallen into the depths of sin (denying the Lord thrice), he would still believe that God loved him. That is faith – and that is what the prodigal son had. After he had messed up his life and lost everything, he still believed one thing – that his father loved him.

You may have messed up your life too. If so, remember that God still loves you. Don’t ever lose faith in that fact. When you have lost everything else in the world, hold on to this one unchangeable fact – that God still loves you. That is the most important thing to remember in life.

— Pastor Zac Poonen,

Christian Fellowship Church, Bangalore, India