When things are hard, it can be easy to feel alone or like no one cares. But God cares. He cares about your sadness and hardships. He cares about your suffering. Why? Because God loves you. Davis, W. (1998). Implicature: Intention, convention, and principle in the failure of gricean theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. So there is no greater love than this love that Jesus has for us, and the way he wants us to respond is by abiding in him. He wants us to remain in him, to live in him. He is the vine we are the branch, he wants us to remain grafted into the vine, and all the nourishment that we need, everything for life, everything to produce fruit, will come through the trunk of the vine into us. Basically, how Jesus wants you to respond is to receive his love. Then, when you are filled with love and because of the gratitude that we feel for it in response to that, we will want to obey him. We will find ourselves obeying his commands. He says my command is this, love each other. In Romans 13 it says that all of the commands are summed up in this one. If you keep this one command, you will find that you are keeping all of the others. Love each other! I open the door and it turns out she’s a friend of my boss’, just wanting to say hi. I tell her my boss isn’t in but I can let her know she stopped by. We exchange pleasantries and names and I’m thinking that’s it, she’s going to leave. But she doesn’t. She asks me, “Has anyone ever told you Jesus loves you?” Mind, we’re still standing in the doorway. I’m holding the door open and she’s standing just outside.

Why did the Holy Spirit preserve this text? What’s obviously going on here in this text? What’s obviously going on in this text is that Jesus’ love for us is very personal! He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to experience the same kind of love that he experiences. So here’s the Big Idea for the day: Jesus wants a relationship with you that mirrors His relationship with the Father. Jesus actually wants to have a relationship with you, and he wants to have it in such a way that it mirrors his relationship with the Father. Everything that Jesus is doing with you, with us, is to bring us into the same kind of right relationship with him that he has with his own Father. Ask God to give you hope because of His never-ending love. Ask Him to fill you with His peace that is more powerful than all of the hard things in your life. Every day is a new opportunity to receive God’s mercy and love. The message in this book's needed in today's world. Topjian clearly and simply showed Jesus' love for each one of us. A large percentage of children do not attend church in today's society. This book is a beautiful way to introduce Jesus and his love. I felt this book's geared towards children of ages 8 to 12. However, an adult would be able to simplify the language and concept for younger children. They could explain the concept of growth, aging, and the problems we encounter on a daily basis. I found taking the story from conception to old age a fantastic way to show Jesus never leaves us. He's walking beside us our entire lives.

Suggest a Verse

Amazing as it sounds, Jesus assures to feel the identical passionate affection for us. That’s right, Jesus loves us in the same way the Father loves Him. And NO… He’s not exaggerating—He would never lie to us. Now this is a verse of scripture that I meditate on almost every day! The reason I’m doing it for myself is because this is the area where I most need to experience the reality of God, that he actually does love me. One of my big problems that I’ve always had to overcome, and I find that many men try to overcome, is that I just have a hard time believing that God really cares about me personally! So by meditating on this one verse and a few others like it, God has really changed my heart and I think that I am actually experiencing the love that’s being discussed in this text and I want you to know more about it as well. Jesus came to show us that He desires relationship. He longs for us to receive His unconditional love. He took our guilt and shame on the cross and daily provides us grace, mercy, and do-overs! Jesus came to serve us and be sacrificed for our foolishness. He wants us to feel and experience this kind of love. We can love like Jesus when we receive His amazing love. The [visible] heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight!”—Luke 3:21-22 (Amp.)

Edit: Hey everyone, thank you so much for all your advice and kind words. I expected people to tell me I was overreacting or being dumb. It’s very validating to have so much support from you all. On His last night with His disciples before He was crucified, Jesus emphasized loving others. He demonstrated what loving others looks like by washing His disciples’ feet. This means that God knows what you need before you ask Him for it, and He knows what you will ask before you even think about it. To summarize, I did not like Jesus Loves You, by Christine Topjian. I think it propagates a false gospel and I do not recommend it.What’s more, a couple days before “last supper night” two of them tried to secure first class seating for eternity (Mt. 20: 20-28), leaving the other ten angry and preoccupied about who would be the first… My child, don’t reject the LORD’s discipline, and don’t be upset when He corrects you. For the LORD corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom He delights. (Proverbs 3:11-12) God’s affections for you define your true value and eternal worth—your identity and greatness are determined by His burning heart—the anchor of your soul is God’s desire for you.