I messed up. Does God still love me? 

Do you ever ask this question, wondering if God still loves you? You’re not alone. 

Shame can make us feel alone in the middle of the sea with God’s love beyond reach. 

But is this true? Does God stop loving us when we mess up?

Five Truths To Remember When You Mess Up

1. God is love. 

Our culture defines love in many ways. You think you love someone when you desire them in a romantic way. You think you love someone when they are a part of your family or a close friend who shows up for you. 

And while these can be expressions of human love, at the very basic level, love is other-focused, not self-focused.

In other words, love means giving yourself for the good of others. 

God loves you because He gives Himself for our good,  even when we do nothing to deserve it.

John 3:16 tells us God loved us by giving us His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not exist in forever death, but forever life. 1 John 4:8b (NIV) tells us that “God is love.” 

When you wonder if God loves you, repeat this: “I know God loves me because He gave Himself for me.” 

2. God loved you before you could ever love Him.

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, lived a perfect life to become a perfect sacrifice for sin. Before you could ever believe or follow, He loved you by giving His whole life.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NIV).

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). God’s love is not dependent on us. He loves us because God is love. 

When you wonder if God loves you, repeat this: “God loved me before I could love Him.”

3. Our sin separates us from experiencing God’s love.

God loves us all the time and we are saved by His grace through faith in Jesus (Romans 8:35-39, Ephesians 2:8). And yet, sin separates us from closeness with Him, from experiencing His love in fullest measure (Isaiah 59:2a). 

Sin is anything we think, say, or do that is not in line with God’s character, or what the Bible calls His holiness. Sin can mean missing the mark. And all of us sin (Romans 3:23), but in God’s love, He provided a way for us to be close to Him through forgiveness. 

When you wonder if God loves you, repeat this: “God still loves me when I sin, but my sin brings distance in my relationship with Him.”

4. God’s love provides the way for forgiveness.

Jesus told the religious leaders of His day the way to live for God is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39, NIV). 

But as much as we try to love God and follow Him, we are bound to mess up (Romans 3:23). But God is not done with you.

When you feel the reality of sin in your heart, the shame that makes you hide, all you need to do is stop your sin and turn to Him. Turn to His love. 

John 3:16 (NIV) tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

1 John 1:9 (ESV) tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God is not holding out a cosmic paddle to punish you when you come to Him in humility. God is holding out loving arms to embrace you. 

When you wonder if God loves you, repeat this: “God’s loves provides the way for forgiveness.”

5. We experience God’s love as we follow Him.

Following God is risky. You have to make choices to do the right thing, even when it’s the hard thing. During my high school years, I stopped using substances and followed Jesus, and I lost all my friends. 

I remember sitting on the couch during homecoming with no friends to go to the game with. With tears streaming down my face, I told myself, “It is better to be here with Jesus than with my friends walking away from Him.” 

You may face different choices than me in choosing to follow God, but after more than 20 years of following Jesus, I never regret saying no to sin to follow Him. It is always hard — but always better. Because even when we suffer for following Jesus, we experience His presence, His peace, and His love in a deeper way. 

When you wonder if God loves you, repeat this: “I experience God’s love in increasing measure as I follow Him.”

Are You Ready?

God loves you. All the time. If you are willing and ready to walk in His love, He’s waiting with open arms. 

A prayer to help you start: God, thank You for loving me even though I mess up a lot. I believe in Jesus and His sacrifice for my sin. So, please God, forgive me for (fill in the blank) and any other sin I don’t even realize I have done. And please empower me by Your Holy Spirit to walk with You more closely. Show me the way, Lord. Amen.