God Is Head Over Heels in Love with You — And That's the Only Reason He Needs

Have you ever found yourself wondering what the catch is? Somebody tells you how much God loves you, how much He wants to help you, how He's already moved on your behalf — and somewhere in the back of your mind you think, "Yeah, but they don't know what I've done. There's got to be a catch."

I want to answer that question for you today. And I want to do it with something I learned from a college friend who was completely, irrationally, head over heels in love with the wrong woman.

But first — let me give you a couple more diagnostics. Because we've been building a picture of what it looks like when you don't truly believe God loves you. And I want you to see yourself clearly, not to condemn you, but to get this fixed.

Stop trying to make a deal with God — you have nothing He needs.

Have you ever prayed like this: "Lord, if You'll do this for me, I'll never do that again"? Or, "God, if You heal me, I promise I'll serve You with everything I've got"?

I'll be honest. I've done it. I was lost — not saved yet — and I was somewhere I absolutely should not have been. Some people were looking for me. I slid into a lake and was swimming underwater trying to get away, and while I was underwater I was praying: "Lord, if You save me from this, I will never do anything like this again."

I was lying when I said it. They didn't catch me. And I went right back and did the same stuff.

Here's the thing about making deals with God. Look at what the Word says:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6–8 (NKJV)

"When we were without strength" — that means you had nothing to bring to the table. No deal to offer. No leverage. No righteousness to bargain with. You had absolutely nothing He needed.

And He died for you anyway.

God gave you the greatest help you have ever received when you had nothing to offer Him. So why do you think He's waiting on you to bring something now?

Think about it this way. If a friend called me and said they needed help moving, and my response was, "Well, what's in it for me? What do I get?" — what would that say about our friendship? What would that say about my love for them? It would say I'm not really motivated by love at all.

Is that how you see God? That He will do absolutely nothing for you unless there's a gain for Him? That He needs your promise before He'll move? He doesn't. He already moved. Before you had anything to offer, He gave everything.

Your baby daughter never had to negotiate for a bottle — and neither do you.

We have a daughter. She's a few months old. And not one time has she ever had to make a deal with me to get fed.

I have never held a bottle and said, "Alright, before I give you this, let's talk about your future household chores. If you can guarantee me right now that you'll clean your room when you're old enough to walk, then we can talk about this bottle. Otherwise — forget it."

That would be insane. She's my daughter. She's hungry. I feed her. Not because she offered me something. Because I love her.

Now somebody reading this is thinking, "You're bringing God down to our level." No. God already came down to our level. His name was Jesus. What I'm trying to do is get you up to His level of love — where you actually believe that He will help you simply because He loves you, with no deal required.

"Why, God?" is faith pointed in the wrong direction.

Here's another one. Have you ever said, "Why, God? Why won't You help me? Why are You letting this happen? Why is this taking so long?" — with the clear implication that it's Him that's the problem?

The moment you say that, you've made Him your adversary. You've released faith in the belief that God is withholding from you. That somehow the problem in your life is by His design.

I've had delays in my walk of faith. Things that didn't show up when I wanted them. But in retrospect? Not one time was it Him. Not once was God sitting there saying, "Let's give it another couple of weeks before I help." It was never Him.

Look at Daniel. When he prayed, the angel left Heaven at that very moment. The answer was dispatched immediately. It was demonic opposition in the heavenly realm that delayed its arrival. Yet how many people in Daniel's situation would have been crying out, "God, why aren't You answering?" — while the answer was already on its way?

God is not the author of your problem. God is the author of the solution to your problem.

Now — are there times you've caused your own problems? Yes. I have too. I've done some remarkably stupid things in my life. There'd be too many volumes if I tried to write them all down. And sometimes when I was in the middle of those messes I'd be asking God why — when the real answer was: I lied and got caught. I did this to myself.

God will still help you in the middle of your own mess. He's merciful. But stop pointing the finger at Him.

People do crazy things when they're in love — and God is no exception.

Here's what put this all together for me.

I had a college friend — smart, good-looking guy — completely and irrationally in love with a woman who was, by every objective measure, a terrible human being. Mean, rude, unpleasant. Nobody liked her. His friends didn't like her. I don't think her own family liked her.

And this guy was driving to see her nearly every weekend, running up $1,000 a month in long-distance phone bills when he wasn't with her, spending a small fortune on a ring she absolutely did not deserve — all for a woman who treated him poorly.

We'd tell him: "Mark, she's horrible." He'd say, "I know." "Mark, she's mean to you." "I know." "Mark, why are you still doing this?" And every single time, same answer: "Because I love her. I love her."

That's when it hit me. People do crazy things when they're in love.

And then I thought about God. Someone could walk up to Him and say, "Why would You help them? After everything they've done? After all those mistakes?" And God's answer would be the same every single time: "Because I love them. I love them."

"But God — they caused their own sickness." Because I love them. "But God — they created this debt themselves." Because I love them. "But God — they've been mean, ungrateful, selfish." I know it. And I love them.

He doesn't need another reason. He is head over heels in love with you. And that is enough.

What's the catch? There isn't one — that's the whole point.

We live in a world of scams. Nigerian princes emailing you about fifty million dollars they want to share, if you'll just send $250 first. And we've learned — if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

So when someone starts telling you how much God loves you, how He wants to do exceedingly and abundantly above all you can ask or think, how He died for you when you had nothing to offer — the instinct kicks in. "What's the catch? Nobody does this without a reason. There's got to be something He's getting out of it."

Here's the catch: there is no catch. People do crazy things when they're in love. And God is so completely, irrationally — by human standards — in love with you that He gave His Son for you before you had a single thing to offer Him.

The reason He's motivated to help you is not your track record, not your promises, not your performance. It's not because you finally got it together or because you'll bring Him glory. It's not because you got enough people on the prayer chain or because you made a good enough deal.

It's because He loves you.

That's it. That's the whole answer.

Stop waiting to deserve it. Stop trying to earn it. Stop wondering what the catch is. And stop making Him your adversary when He's been your answer all along.

The next time you're tempted to ask "why, God" or bargain your way into His blessing — just remember: He already gave you the biggest help of your life when you had absolutely nothing to bring to the table.

He loves you. That's His reason. That's always been His reason.

Fight To Win.