Does God still love me?

 I fell into sin even though my heart was with God. Does God still love me?

Each one must trust the enduring love that is God.  God cannot not love as it is within his essence to do nothing other than to share what he is.  Love is at the very center of our creator even though we all have fallen short of the glory of God; “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.”  (Rom. 3: 23).  

Can one bargain with God to erase the sin and continue on with their life?  No, since we cannot justify the sin we either accidentally or intentionally commit.  However, let’s clarify these two adverbs by placing the blame on ourselves for a failure.  It is certainly not an accident since we usually have full control of any action that is sinful.  Of course, we all know that for a sin to be Mortal there must be full consent as well as free will.  Sometimes a person will find themselves in a habitual situation and allow themselves to be directed through intense weakness and commit a sinful act which may find the absence of complete free-will.  But, we cannot use this as an excuse to fall into serious sin and say I wasn’t in control of my free-will.  This is when a priest must be sought out through confession to discern the situation.

When the opportunity arises and we find ourselves struggling with the constant attack of an habitual encounter, remember God will not discard our weakness and the Holy Spirit will not exit himself because of the obvious sin we may find ourselves competing with self-control and the path of grace we need to avoid failure.  One method that really works is to turn to prayer, especially through the intercession of our Blessed Mother.  If we turn our thoughts of reaching into tempting desires the prayer can overcome the need to satisfy our cravings.  A good friend who was a recovered alcoholic told me when the desire for another drink gnawed at the temptation, wait a little and time would help the desire to pass.  That is good philosophy to follow and the personal habit might go by the wayside.  

This is not to say that severe addictions can easily disappear just like that.  I spent several years as a chaplain for recovering alcoholics and learned through counseling that it takes more than prayer alone.  However, recovery needs the intervention of grace that only God can provide.  These two elements go hand-in-hand and without either one the result will end in failure.

Answering the question, does God still love me?  A short interjection used regarding reconciliation, Think of the ocean as God’s mercy and you or I stand full of sin like a drop of water.  We jump into the mercy of God, as large as the ocean, and our sin is absorbed completely never to be seen again as far as sin goes.  Or when Jesus hung on the cross with his arms spread wide before us and said, “This is how much I love you.”

Ralph B. Hathaway