Not About Us

"For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" ~ Romans 5:10.

Ultimately Paul is saying that if God loved us and was willing to die for us while we were still either unaware or simply uncaring of Who He was, then why do we fear that somehow today we won't be good enough or worthy enough of His love? Now that we have decided to follow after Him as His friends rather than His enemies, why now do we fear, what now do we fear?

God loves humanity - people, us - right now, right where we are. This love of His is all inclusive. He does not love us because we believe in Him. There is no level we have to reach, no deed we have to do, no action we have to ensure we take in order to be worthy of the love of God, it is already ours -- we simply must admit to ourselves it's reality, we actually do not even have the say over whether or not He can give it to us (that's already been decided, and His Son was the yes).

His love for people does not depend on human logic. The ability to have an "all inclusive love" does not compute in the world we live in today. Today so much of an individual's worth is driven by a conditional force that perhaps at any point may not be enough, but not to Him. To Him you are already enough. All people, all humanity -- from the Priest who's got the formula of religion down to a science, to the Neo-Nazi skin head who hates the world; from the orphans in Africa who have never even understood the meaning of "family," to the child sex-trafficker in China; from the business man in America who's life is spent proving his worth by the deals he makes, to the rural village farmer in South America who has yet to hear of a God who loves Him, from me, to you, and the list goes on. God loves people and it does not make sense, it does not stand on human logic, just as "the salvation of God does not stand on human logic, it stands on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be given new life because of the payment of our LORD through Jesus Christ His Son. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance or their belief, but by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus which is prior to all experience" (Chambers, My Utmost, Oct. 28th).

Our worth, or love from God, does not depend on our character, ability, money, status, or anything else we may decide to define ourselves by; it depends on the character of God. You are worth the ultimate price of His Son -- You are worth that to Him! Is that comprehendable? To me, not so much. Often I get so out of wack with what God wants me to know and live by, so caught up in the "ifs" or "hows" of my own ability and then feel guilty for doing so, becoming afraid He will be angry with me or I'll somehow disappoint Him to the extent that He will no longer want anything to do with me. But that's not Him -- that is not a reflection of the character of the God I have experienced or read about in the scriptures. He doesn't stop. It's just not in His character.