“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”
So many of us wrongly feel that in order to justify our existence on earth, we have to create. To perform. To be perfect. To do everything right. And if we don’t live up to our production expectations, we can slip into thinking we’re worthless. But that’s looking at creation (you) as a commodity, not as a created being. It’s assigning worth based on your value to produce, to fill holes, to accomplish a to-do list.
As much as our culture reinforces this idea, it’s simply not true that we must live up to certain standards in order to earn God’s love. We simply must rest in being his children. We can revel in being a creation dearly loved by Jesus, sacrificed for, graced unconditionally.
Much our thinking is tainted by a consumer-based mindset. If we view others as things to possess instead of people to be loved, it’s no wonder we’ve lacked grace for ourselves when we don’t perform up to our own legalistic standards. It may take awhile to absorb, but consider the sound of these words: You don’t have to justify the space you take up on earth any more. Jesus made a way—a beautiful way for you to realize how profoundly loved you are.
Reflect:
Read Titus 3:4–5. Do you tend to feel you must live up to a standard to be worthy of love? How has that way of thinking been damaging in your life?
Pray:
Reflect on the saving power of Jesus Christ, reminding yourself of what he did to secure your salvation. Pray simply by resting in his love throughout the day.
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
Church movements need magnetic leaders. But the best leaders need more than charm.
The champion of “native missions” trained more than 100,000 evangelists but got in trouble for financial mismanagement.
