WHY SOME HAVE DOUBTS: Even when they desperately need comfort, some people feel that it is selfish to ask God to intervene and help them cope with their problems. “When I look at the sheer number of people in the world​—and the serious problems they face,” says a woman named Raquel, “my concerns seem so insignificant that I hesitate to ask God for help.”

WHAT GOD’S WORD TEACHES: God has already intervened in a remarkable way to help and comfort humans. Everyone on earth today has inherited sin​—a chronic failure to measure up perfectly to God’s requirements. However, God “loved us and sent his Son [Jesus Christ] as a means of appeasement for our sins.” (1 John 4:10; footnote) Through Jesus’ sacrificial death, God makes it possible for us to have forgiveness of sins, a clean conscience, and the hope of eternal life in a peaceful new world. * But is that sacrifice merely for the human race as a whole, or does it reflect God’s interest in you personally?

Consider the apostle Paul. He was so moved by the sacrifice of Jesus that he wrote: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and handed himself over for me.” (Galatians 2:20) True, Jesus died even before Paul became a Christian. Yet, Paul viewed that sacrifice as God’s personal gift to him.

The sacrificial death of Jesus is God’s personal gift to you too. That gift proves how precious you are to God. It can give you “everlasting comfort and good hope” and thus “make you firm in every good deed and word.”​—2 Thessalonians 2:16, 17.

Yet, Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice almost 2,000 years ago. What evidence is there that God is reaching out to you today?