Malachi 1:2

I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

As technology continues to advance, sports have become inundated with statistics. Analytics which reflect a given player’s overall benefit to a team are used to negotiate contracts. The PGA Tour website details statistics for players in every imaginable way for every possible scenario. The Tour goes further than detailing solely scoring averages and driving distances. We are given performance details for “strokes gained putting”, scoring averages for morning and afternoon rounds, scoring averages for each round, number of holes per eagle, and the player’s tendency to miss fairways on the right or left side. The player can use these statistical areas to determine which areas of his or her game need improvement. However, the overall score after four rounds is the only area in which truly counts following a tournament.

The book of Malachi reveals many questions the people of Israel had for God. Many of the questions are the same ones we tend to pose today in light of our current situation. Perhaps the most poignant question was asked in verse two. The people asked, “in what ways have you loved us?” This inquiry may seem simplistic, but we regularly catch ourselves asking the same question in varying ways. We live in the midst of a world full of both spiritual and physical sickness. We ask God, “where can we find something that shows that you love us?”

We as God’s children continually have our doubts and want Him to give us reassurance of His love. Complex questions rarely have simple answers. Believers have the saving knowledge and that blessed assurance, but doubts creep into our minds while we are in the middle of a trial or tribulation. Romans 5:8 gives this answer which still holds true today. It was written, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

If and when we doubt God’s love, we have to look no further than the cross. The suffering and sacrifice of His Son Jesus gives us that proof that God loved us before we even recognized His presence and affection. Our message to the world continues to the founded upon the eternal truth that God loves you. Despite your failings in every facet of life, God sent His Son to be a sacrifice for our deficits. Let us live in a fashion today that testifies of His abounding love and the difference Jesus has made in our areas of struggle.