{"id":1620,"date":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2026\/03\/10\/loved-first\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:00:00","slug":"loved-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star1015denver\/2026\/03\/10\/loved-first\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can Stop Trying To Be Good Enough: You Don’t Have To Earn Real Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is Day 1 of a five day devotional series called <\/em>“Loved First” from The Jesus Table.<\/em> To access days 2-5, visit The Jesus Table on YouVersion here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study isn\u2019t about how to love God better.
It\u2019s about discovering how deeply God already loves you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s passage centers on a powerful word: hope.<\/strong>
But the Bible means something different by \u201chope\u201d than we usually do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us, hope often means a wish, a desire, or a feeling of expectation.
But in Scripture, hope means confidence: <\/strong>confident expectation.
It\u2019s the assurance that what God has promised, He will complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romans 5:6\u201311<\/a> (NLT)<\/strong>
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since we have been made right in God\u2019s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God\u2019s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we study the Bible<\/a>, it helps to ask three simple questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n