THIS MUCH, and even more

For we are His portion and He is our prize...Oh, how He loves us, oh. ~ David Crowder Band

God didn't create "super beings." There aren't little "Supermen" and "Wonderwomen" running around on Earth. God didn't create us to be robots, unable to think for ourselves or having no feelings or emotions on things. No, God created us just as we are. Now, originally, we were all without sin, but we all had souls--mind, will, and emotion. And even though we now have sin, God loves us just the same, even when we fall. It breaks His heart so much when we do fall, because He loves us so. That's why He sent His Son. "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16.

Jesus came, not to punish us, but to love us. We are His portion--we are all He needs or wants. We are everything to Him. He is God, so He could have left us and created something else, if He wanted. But He loves us so much that He promised to never leave or forsake us, (see Deuteronomy 31:6).

When I was little, my mom taught me how much Jesus loves me. She would ask, "How much does Jesus love you?" Then she would stretch out my arms as far as they would reach and say, "He loves you <---THIS---> much and even more!" Years later, I heard a preacher say that Jesus loved us so much that He stretched out His arms and died for us, nailing our sins, and everything that separated us from God, to the cross. My mom was right! Jesus loves me <---THIS---> much and even more! Thanks Mom, for always trying to show me how much Jesus loves me.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6