We all like to talk about God being all that we need, but the sad reality is that while we are good at talking about God being all we need, many of us are living as though God is not all we need.

Yes, God is enough. But if we’re really going to be happy, we also need this relationship.

Yes, God is enough. But if we’re really going to be content, we also need to live in this particular neighborhood.  

Yes, God is enough. But if we’re really going to show kindness to those around us, they need to show us respect back.

Yes, God is enough. But when hurt and disappointment enter my life, we really need to be able to distract from it by indulging in junk food, TV, shopping, or maybe even a substance.  

Yes, God is enough.

​But. 
​

I think one of the biggest blind spots many of us possess in life is idolatry. After all, we don’t often see people worshiping blocks of wood or statues of gold, so we find it easy to brush off idolatry as something from Biblical times that’s not really an issue anymore.

The result? At worst, we can be guilty of dismissing idolatry as a modern-day issue altogether. At best, we may find ourselves resorting to the Sunday-school teaching of associating idols with things such as video games, TV, and money. And while to a certain extent that can be true, the truth is that the most dangerous idols we worship are not physical objects. 
​

Hope is a funny thing. It can lead to excitement, joy, and peace. But hope can also lead to despair, discouragement, and defeat.

Hope fulfilled is the best thing in the world.

Hope disappointed is the worst thing in the world. 
​

​In Matthew 16 we observe an exchange between Jesus and the disciples in which Peter recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah. But just a few short verses later we learn that while Peter was right that Jesus was the Messiah, he did not fully understand the implications of this truth. 
​

​Peter was a Jew. The Jewish people had long awaited a messiah to rescue them from their captivity. The problem was that they expected a physical king to relieve their physical circumstances and deliver them from their physical problems, rather than a spiritual King who would relieve their spiritual condition and deliver them from their spiritual destruction. 
​

​Because he was seeking a physical king with physical deliverance, Peter’s hope was inevitably disappointed, and his disillusionment quickly led to fear, despair, and destructive behavior to deal with his discouragement. 
​

​There are three core truths about God that are critical to our freedom. The first is that God is good. The second that God is loving. And finally, that God is in control. All three of these truths are intertwined, and without one the others fall short. If God is good, he must also, therefore, be loving. But if He is not in control, how can He really be good? And if He is not loving, He certainly cannot be good. 

Today I want to talk with you about the reality of God’s love.

I think for the most part we all have a general understanding of the fact that God is loving. We all know John 3:16, and we often tell each other “God loves you!” But the question I want to challenge you with today is this: How is the reality of God’s love impacting your daily living? 

While we may find ourselves familiar with the fact that God loves us, we may not necessarily have a full understanding of what that love looks like, which leads us to feeling, and subsequently living, as though God does not love us. The sad fact is that many of us struggle with looking at what’s happening in our lives and in our world and find ourselves wrestling with the question of God’s love. 
​

To fully grasp the love of God, we need to take a step back and redefine love. The first problem we encounter when it comes to God’s love is that we have a misconception of what love is, what it looks like, and how it acts.

Scripture talks about three primary types of love: romantic/sexual love, brotherly/friendship love, and sacrificial love. The love that God has for us is sacrificial love – which, by the way, is the same love that He ultimately calls all us to strive to have for each other.

Part of our problem in defining love is that we resort to feelings over actions. We struggle to apply the truth of whether or not God loves us simply based on how we feel, rather than evaluating His love based on what actions He has taken towards us. 
​