Does God Really Love Me?

Here’s a common human question we’ve probably all asked ourselves: Does God really love me?  

If things aren’t going so well in our lives, or if we don’t like ourselves much for some reason, then it can be easy to think this way. “How can God love me when I don’t even love me?” we may ask.  

Life isn’t always easy and sometimes we can make poor judgments in the heat of the moment. This can leave us feeling guilty or regretful, and even worse hopeless, as if we’ve messed up and God won’t like us, let alone love us, anymore.    

But if we read the Baha’i writings we can find assurance that God does indeed love every single one us, despite all of our imperfections. Abdu’l-Baha said ;

… among mankind there may be those who are ignorant; they must be trained. Some are sick; they must be treated. Some are immature; they must be helped to attain maturity. In other respects humanity is submerged in the ocean of divine mercy. God is the Father of all. He educates, provides for and loves all; for they are His servants and His creation. – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 267.

Think of it this way, Abdu’l-Baha urged us—as an artist who cannot help but love his own art, even if perhaps his art isn’t perfect:

Surely the Creator loves His creatures. It would be impossible to find an artist who does not love his own production. Have you ever seen a man who did not love his own actions? Even though they be bad actions, he loves them. How ignorant, therefore, the thought that God, Who created man, educated and nurtured him, surrounded him with all blessings, made the sun and all phenomenal existence for his benefit, bestowed upon him tenderness and kindness and then did not love him. – Ibid.                                                                                           

Abdu’l-Baha went on to say that it’s not only the Baha’is or those of other Faiths that God loves:

… no matter to what religion a man belongs, even though he be an atheist or materialist, nevertheless, God nurtures him, bestows His kindness and sheds upon him His light. How then can we believe God is wrathful and unloving? How can we even imagine this, when as a matter of fact we are witnesses of the tenderness and mercy of God upon every hand? All about us we behold manifestations of the love of God. – Ibid.

Baha’is believe that we all need to try our best to emulate the all-embracing and non-judgmental kind of love that God seems to show to all of His creatures. We must even try to regard them, the Baha’i teachings say, as if they were one of our beloved relations:

If, therefore, God be loving, what should we do? We have nothing else to do but to emulate Him. Just as God loves all and is kind to all, so must we really love and be kind to everybody. We must consider none bad, none worthy of detestation, no one as an enemy. We must love all; nay, we must consider everyone as related to us, for all are the servants of one God. All are under the instructions of one Educator. We must strive day and night that love and amity may increase, that this bond of unity may be strengthened, that joy and happiness may more and more prevail, that in unity and solidarity all mankind may gather beneath the shadow of God, that people may turn to God for their sustenance, finding in Him the life that is everlasting. Thus may they be confirmed in the Kingdom of God and live forever through His grace and bounty. – Ibid.

It may be not be easy to truly accept or understand some of these spiritual concepts. As human beings we are certainly capable of loving others, although genuine selfless love tends to be more commonly restricted to our immediate family or close friends. The Baha’i teachings ask us to consider all humanity in the same way we do our immediate family—to treat every human being as part of one family, the human family.