Did you believe that I love you?

Brennan Manning said:

I am now utterly convinced that on judgment day, 
the Lord Jesus is going to ask each of us one question and only one question. 
Did you believe that I loved you?
that I desired you, 
that I waited for you day after day, 
that I longed to hear the sound of your voice?

This is such a basic, fundamental truth of our faith? 

You live out our concept or understanding of God. 

The French philosopher Blaze Pascal, said: 

God made man in his own image and man returned the compliment.

We often make God in our own image and he winds up to be as
fussy,
rude,
narrow-minded,
legalistic,
judgmental,
unforgiving,
unloving as we are. 

For real believers, the answer is yes, 

Yes. Jesus, I believe in your love, and I tried to shape my life as a response to it. 

But for too many, many who are faithful in our ministry, in our practice, in our church going are going to have to reply, 

Well, frankly, no, sir.

I never really believed that. 

I heard a wonderful a lot of wonderful sermons and teachings about it. 

The God of so many Christians I meet is a God who is too small, because he is not the God of the Word. He is not the God revealed by it in Jesus Christ who this moment, comes right to you and says, 

I have a word for you. 

I know your whole life story. 

I know every skeleton in your closet. 

I know every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty, and degraded love that has darkened your past. 

Right now, I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship. 

And my word is this. 

I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are and not as you should be. 

Because you're never going to be as you should be.