Built to Last | Trust His Love
Key Truth | God’s love becomes the foundation for our identity, security, and relationships when we learn not only to believe it, but to trust it.
Key Scripture | “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.” — 1 John 4:16 NLT
Recently, I shared a message in our current series, Built to Last, about Christ’s love for His Church. Today, I want to dig a little deeper into one of the verses we looked at together, because I believe there is something in these words that reaches beyond simply believing that God loves us. It invites us to actually build our lives on that love.
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.” — 1 John 4:16 NLT
I remember the exact place I was sitting in my study the day I read this verse during my quiet time. One sentence seemed to leap off the page: “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.”
As I sat with those words, I realized something that was difficult to admit. There were places in my heart that still didn’t really know how deeply God loved me.
I knew it in my head. I could preach it from the stage. I could tell other people about the love of God and point them to Scriptures that proved it. I believed God was loving, and I believed He loved His people. But knowing something to be true and allowing that truth to reach the deepest places of our hearts are not always the same thing.
The word "know" carries deep significance throughout Scripture. Biblically, knowing can describe the intimacy shared between a husband and wife. It goes far beyond having information about someone. It speaks of closeness, vulnerability, relationship, and being fully known. John isn’t simply talking about understanding the doctrine of God’s love. He is describing a place of intimacy where His love moves from something we agree with in our minds to something we have experienced and become secure in within our hearts.
But John doesn’t stop with knowing His love. He says, “We have put our trust in his love.”
Not long after reading that verse, a question came to my spirit that challenged me even more: What percentage would I say I actually trust God’s love for me?
Would I say 50 percent? Maybe 65? I’m a pastor, so surely I should be able to say at least 75 percent.
It sounds like a strange way to measure something spiritual, but the question exposed something in me. I began to recognize how much of my life I had spent searching for acceptance, affirmation, and love from sources that were never designed to carry that responsibility. I’ve looked for affirmation from people. I’ve even looked to Lauren’s voice to tell me things about myself that ultimately needed to come from His voice. And I don’t think I’m alone in that.
Without realizing it, we can place people we deeply love, even people who are incredible gifts from God, in a position that only God was meant to inhabit. We begin expecting a spouse, a friend, a parent, a child, or even the approval of other people to continually reassure us that we are valuable, wanted, secure, or enough.
But no person can carry that kind of weight forever.
Our identity, security, purpose, and calling have to begin in God. When those things are settled by the right Person, something changes in the way we relate to everyone else. Instead of constantly needing people to prove our worth, we become free to simply love them. We don’t have to squeeze affirmation out of another person because our hearts are becoming secure in the affirmation of our Father. Their love becomes something we can gratefully receive rather than something we desperately need in order to feel whole.
But when I don’t trust God’s love, insecurity has a way of building a dam in my heart. The very love that should be flowing through me toward the people God has placed in my life can become obstructed by fear, comparison, disappointment, insecurity, or my constant need to be reassured.
Maybe that is why John says just a few verses later: “We love each other because he loved us first.” — 1 John 4:19 NLT
The order matters. His love comes first, and our love flows from His.
We were never meant to manufacture enough love on our own. We were meant to receive His love so deeply that it begins overflowing into the way we love others. The more secure I become in His love for me, the freer I become to love my spouse, my family, my friends, and the people around me without demanding that they continually fill something in me that only God can fill.
So maybe the question today isn’t simply, “Do you believe God loves you?” Most of us would probably answer yes.
Go a little deeper.
What percentage of your heart actually trusts His love?
And what might change if that number began moving closer to 100? How would you respond to rejection differently? How would you handle criticism? How would you love your spouse or your children? How much less pressure would you place on the people closest to you if your identity and security were firmly rooted in the love of God?
You don’t have to force yourself to reach 100 percent today. Simply invite God into the places that still struggle to believe. Let Him show you where fear, insecurity, past hurt, or disappointment has made it difficult to trust His heart toward you.
Knowing God loves you is where it begins. Learning to trust His love is where that truth begins to change the way you live and the way you love.
Reflection
Prayer | Father, I don’t want to simply know about Your love. I want to know Your love deeply and personally. Show me the places in my heart where I still struggle to trust You and the places where I have looked to people for something only You can give. Teach me to put my trust in Your love. Establish my identity and security in You so deeply that I no longer need other people to continually prove my worth. Let Your love fill the places in me that have been marked by fear, insecurity, hurt, or disappointment, and then let that love flow freely through me to the people You have placed in my life. I know You love me. Teach my heart to trust that love. Amen.
Additional Scripture:
Key Scripture | “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.” — 1 John 4:16 NLT
Recently, I shared a message in our current series, Built to Last, about Christ’s love for His Church. Today, I want to dig a little deeper into one of the verses we looked at together, because I believe there is something in these words that reaches beyond simply believing that God loves us. It invites us to actually build our lives on that love.
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.” — 1 John 4:16 NLT
I remember the exact place I was sitting in my study the day I read this verse during my quiet time. One sentence seemed to leap off the page: “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.”
As I sat with those words, I realized something that was difficult to admit. There were places in my heart that still didn’t really know how deeply God loved me.
I knew it in my head. I could preach it from the stage. I could tell other people about the love of God and point them to Scriptures that proved it. I believed God was loving, and I believed He loved His people. But knowing something to be true and allowing that truth to reach the deepest places of our hearts are not always the same thing.
The word "know" carries deep significance throughout Scripture. Biblically, knowing can describe the intimacy shared between a husband and wife. It goes far beyond having information about someone. It speaks of closeness, vulnerability, relationship, and being fully known. John isn’t simply talking about understanding the doctrine of God’s love. He is describing a place of intimacy where His love moves from something we agree with in our minds to something we have experienced and become secure in within our hearts.
But John doesn’t stop with knowing His love. He says, “We have put our trust in his love.”
Not long after reading that verse, a question came to my spirit that challenged me even more: What percentage would I say I actually trust God’s love for me?
Would I say 50 percent? Maybe 65? I’m a pastor, so surely I should be able to say at least 75 percent.
It sounds like a strange way to measure something spiritual, but the question exposed something in me. I began to recognize how much of my life I had spent searching for acceptance, affirmation, and love from sources that were never designed to carry that responsibility. I’ve looked for affirmation from people. I’ve even looked to Lauren’s voice to tell me things about myself that ultimately needed to come from His voice. And I don’t think I’m alone in that.
Without realizing it, we can place people we deeply love, even people who are incredible gifts from God, in a position that only God was meant to inhabit. We begin expecting a spouse, a friend, a parent, a child, or even the approval of other people to continually reassure us that we are valuable, wanted, secure, or enough.
But no person can carry that kind of weight forever.
Our identity, security, purpose, and calling have to begin in God. When those things are settled by the right Person, something changes in the way we relate to everyone else. Instead of constantly needing people to prove our worth, we become free to simply love them. We don’t have to squeeze affirmation out of another person because our hearts are becoming secure in the affirmation of our Father. Their love becomes something we can gratefully receive rather than something we desperately need in order to feel whole.
But when I don’t trust God’s love, insecurity has a way of building a dam in my heart. The very love that should be flowing through me toward the people God has placed in my life can become obstructed by fear, comparison, disappointment, insecurity, or my constant need to be reassured.
Maybe that is why John says just a few verses later: “We love each other because he loved us first.” — 1 John 4:19 NLT
The order matters. His love comes first, and our love flows from His.
We were never meant to manufacture enough love on our own. We were meant to receive His love so deeply that it begins overflowing into the way we love others. The more secure I become in His love for me, the freer I become to love my spouse, my family, my friends, and the people around me without demanding that they continually fill something in me that only God can fill.
So maybe the question today isn’t simply, “Do you believe God loves you?” Most of us would probably answer yes.
Go a little deeper.
What percentage of your heart actually trusts His love?
And what might change if that number began moving closer to 100? How would you respond to rejection differently? How would you handle criticism? How would you love your spouse or your children? How much less pressure would you place on the people closest to you if your identity and security were firmly rooted in the love of God?
You don’t have to force yourself to reach 100 percent today. Simply invite God into the places that still struggle to believe. Let Him show you where fear, insecurity, past hurt, or disappointment has made it difficult to trust His heart toward you.
Knowing God loves you is where it begins. Learning to trust His love is where that truth begins to change the way you live and the way you love.
Reflection
- What percentage of my heart actually trusts God’s love for me?
- Where am I asking another person to give me identity, security, or affirmation that ultimately needs to come from God?
- How would I love the people around me differently if I were completely secure in His love?
Prayer | Father, I don’t want to simply know about Your love. I want to know Your love deeply and personally. Show me the places in my heart where I still struggle to trust You and the places where I have looked to people for something only You can give. Teach me to put my trust in Your love. Establish my identity and security in You so deeply that I no longer need other people to continually prove my worth. Let Your love fill the places in me that have been marked by fear, insecurity, hurt, or disappointment, and then let that love flow freely through me to the people You have placed in my life. I know You love me. Teach my heart to trust that love. Amen.
Additional Scripture:
- 1 John 4:16 — Know His love and put your trust in it.
- 1 John 4:19 — We love because He loved us first.
- Romans 8:38–39 — Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
- Ephesians 3:17–19 — Know and experience how wide, long, high, and deep the love of Christ is.
- Zephaniah 3:17 — He delights in you and quiets you with His love.
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