Yes! Indeed He does! Why? Because we are “…made in His image.” (like him) (Genesis 1:26). Jesus’ whole life was directed to us. He spoke of love 27 times in John’s Gospel alone.
In John 3:16 Jesus said to a night visitor, Nicodemus: “For God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ‘The world’ means everyone and ‘whoever’ means anyone who believes in Him and follows His way.
This love is not the same as ours. It is bigger and more forgiving than we know how, because it does not depend on us being ‘good’.
MORE INFO: God’s love is a bit like a mother’s love for a wayward son.
You have probably seen on TV a weeping mother outside a court, facing the TV men. Her son has been convicted of a serious crime and is off to jail. Everyone hates him for what he did. Not so his mum. She says with tears: “I still love him whatever he has done, he is my son and I love him.”
God’s love is much more than that. He helps us to make a new start if we want to.
Finally, perhaps this is helpful: When Jesus agreed to come to earth to die in our place what if he said to God (His Father) “Ok, I’ll go, but I will only die for those who love me – the rest can ‘Go jump’.”
