When Joel and I first started dating many years ago, I didn't know that one of our mutual friends was talking with Joel about me behind my back. She would tell him, "Victoria told me she likes you!" And Joel would ask, "Well, tell me what she said about our first date." Because he heard how much I liked him at the very start, it gave him the confidence to pursue our relationship. And as he pursued the relationship, he found out that I liked him, too—a lot! We continued with our relationship and discovered new things about each other, and our relationship got deeper and flourished. Thirty years later, it's still growing and flourishing!
For some people, it's like that with the love of God. Perhaps you heard about Jesus and were attracted by His love, but you were only confident enough to let Him in a little bit. Maybe there are some areas in your life that you think, If He knew that about me, He'd walk away. You might think you need to clean yourself up before you can develop a relationship with Jesus. You've heard that He loves you, but you've not had the confidence to take the next step.
No relationship can deepen and flourish with closed doors. If I had shut off certain areas of my life from Joel, our relationship would not have grown. But as we got to know each other, we gained the confidence that we were not going to judge each other. We trusted each other, and our love developed.
That's what we have to believe about the love of Christ. There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ. God loves you in Jesus Christ. There is no door that you cannot open to Him! There is no sin too great! There is nothing that you've done that He will not forgive! The Bible says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NIV). Before we even knew about Him, He already was in love with us!
Today, take that step from just hearing about the love of God to truly experiencing and developing the love of God! Pursue Him with all of your heart!