By Rev. Jeremy Steele
God loves you. No, really. God is crazy about you. Everything good and beautiful and desirable in this world is the voice of God calling out to you with the most important message in the universe: God loves you.
That means, that you probably have heard the voice of God more than you know. Every time you saw a beautiful flower, or smelled the salt air at the beach or felt the warm embrace of someone who loves you, you were hearing God whispering through the salt molecules and photons and hugs, I love you.
Every time you were intrigued by a scientific discovery or were in awe of a medical cure, you were hearing God say, I love you.
Every time you wondered at the grace of a ballerina or were in awe of a painting by Picasso, you were hearing the same message, God loves you.
And the best news? God loves you no matter what -- no matter how much money you make, how often you drink alone, how many people you ve slept with or how honest you were on your taxes. There is nothing you can do to make God stop loving you.
God loves you just as you are with all your faults and flaws, on your good days and bad. Even when you post an inappropriate rant on Facebook, God loves you. God loves you if you act like you love everyone else or if you say bigoted, hateful things to your family at home.
God loves you if you are a workaholic or alcoholic, racist or pacifist, homophobic or agoraphobic. God loves you if you are Republican or Democrat, no matter who you voted for for president or senator or mayor.
God loves you if you root for the Tide, the Tigers, the Noles, or go on dates during the Iron Bowl.
God loves you if you love God or not, if you believe in God or not, if you worship God or not.
God s love is powerful and pervasive, but it is not passive. God wants to take all the good parts of you, all the successful parts, all the nice and pure parts, break them open and flood your soul with them. God wants to infect your whole life with all the good things God placed within you. God wants to love you into being all the best parts of who you are.
God loves you. Period. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
God loves you so much that God doesn t want you to be alone, which is why for millennia people have been gathering together to remember and celebrate this simple truth. Some call it church; some call it service; some call it something more relevant and cool, but they all do the same thing: express this undying, unconditional, transforming love week after week.
Maybe this year, you can carve out some time to go experience this beautiful love of God in a worshiping community. I hope you will, but even if you don t, God will still love you.
(The Rev. Jeremy Steele is Next Generation minister at Christ United Methodist Church in Mobile, Ala.)