I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. John‬ ‭15‬:‭9‬

“If God is a God of love, then why did my mom get cancer?”

“If God is a God of love, why is there evil in the world?’

“If God is a God of love, why did that natural disaster happen?”

“If God is a God of love…”

We hear it all the time. It’s one of the arguments athiests, agnostics and non-believers love to use to prove that if God does exist, he isn’t the type of God one would want to have faith in.

But love is proven more powerfully in bad times than the good. When life is easy, we tend to love everyone and everything. But true love? You see that in the picture of an elderly man helping his nearly crippled wife walk down the street.

You see true love in the husband or wife who patiently and faithfully helps their spouse through addiction.

You see true love in the mom and dad who faithfully sit by the hospital bed of a sick child.

And God? You see His true love in through the life and death of His Son, Jesus. God loved Jesus as His only son yet he allowed him to go experience the rejection of the very people he created.

He allowed Jesus to feel the sorrow of watching friends die, people being mistreated and parents following the casket of sons and daughters.

He watched, and eventually looked away, when Jesus endured the ultimate pain of the cross.

In all this tragedy, God’s love is the defining factor. Jesus endured all He endured to show us that true love flourishes in the painful times of life.

The very purpose God has for giving each of us life is so that He can show us love. A love that values us when others reject us. A love that empowers us as we endure hardship and rejection. A love that assures us that even though things may look dark now, a better day is coming.

The rejection of his people and the pain of the cross led to new life, eternal life, through the resurrection.

The same is true for us. We may never understand fully the ‘why’, of God allowing us to go through struggles, hardship and rejection, but one day like Jesus, we will be resurrected into a new life with him forever if we follow Him as Lord and Savior.