According to a newspaper article published in 2001, half of the13 year-old girls in America said they were unhappy with their bodies. By the age of 17, the figure had risen to 78 percent. This is true for boys as well. One of the reasons there is such an increasing obsession of aversion to their body image is that young people want to feel loved. Does the large number of teenage suicides have something to do with the fact that many feel unloved, unwanted, and purposeless?

 

Teens are not the only people with these feelings. There are others across chronological and racial lines who are not able to accept themselves. Some are weighed down with feelings of inferiority; others are not reconciled with their past or even their physical conditions. Still others feel inferior mentally or socially. Indeed, many people feel totally unloved.

 

Most psychologists agree that man's greatest need is to love and be loved. God completely meets that need! God's word to one and all is, "God loves you and accepts you as you are." God's love for you is unconditional and undeserved. He loves you in spite of your disobedience, your weakness, your sin and your selfishness.

 

You may be wondering, "Can it really be true that God does love me? Is it really true that there is such a thing as unconditional love, that I could be forgiven and given a fresh start?" Yes! The love that God has for you is far beyond our human comprehension. Before God so loved the world, He so loved His Son. Think of it! God loves you as much as He loves His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus! And the staggering, overwhelming truth is that He loves you even when you are disobedient. It is His supreme love for you that is demonstrated in the death of Christ Jesus on the cross. It is His love for you that paid the ultimate price!

 

The Bible tells us that the greatest thing you'll ever learn is to know you are loved and to love in return. To know you are loved by God Himself is actually the very purpose and meaning of life itself. No barricade can withstand the mighty force of love. Get your eyes off yourself! Focus your love and attention on Christ and on others. Begin to lose yourself in that love and in service for Him and for your fellow man.