Worth

I had a pre-done, longer exegetical post today about a hard theological concept, so I thought I’d break up the more difficult theological posts with a short positive affirmation post before I continue my The Hard Questions series of posts.

The concept of this will be quite simple, really.

How does God view you?

Does God treat you as an outcast?

Or is it He cares for the outcast?

Does God look at you as a vile sinner?

Or does He see you in the righteousness of Christ?

People may overlook your worth, or you might feel as though you have so little influence in this life.

But the truth is, God sees you as a valuably crafted individual with infinite worth. You may have a handful of followers, but if even one person is transformed by the things you say or do, isn’t that worth it?

You might not be ready to handle thousands of followers.

God might use people overlooking you to protect you until the opportune time to cause you to shine.

People’s opinions of you mean little when God sees you as loved and cherished.

You might feel like a small ant most days, but God might see you as a valiant lion in the face of obstacles.

Are you worried because you aren’t “doing things perfectly?” God is interested in our hearts and wants all of us. He loves all of us, not just some of us. The days we feel like we measure up over the days we don’t.

We’re not expected to be perfect in the way God is as humans. That’s not possible for creatures in mortal flesh. Jesus said for us to be perfect, as the Heavenly Father is perfect, but it’s a process to get there regarding morality and righteous living.

But the most important aspect of these things is love for our neighbor, which isn’t only our Christian brothers and sisters, but all people, for all are made in His image.

That means the transgender person as much as the alcoholic. We don’t get to choose who is worth saving. We are here to plant the seeds and affirm God’s love for all people. Whether or not we have the same worldview, the same sexuality, or the same experiences.

 Lists of dos and do nots don’t fully encapsulate the process of sanctification and glory, which takes time for each of us.

God sees you as clean if you have given over your life to Christ. Repentance is more than changing your mind; it is about the heart.

But don’t beat yourself up because of ridiculous standards that Christians seem to think God has when no such standards exist (you’ll never convince me of something being sin if it isn’t in the text itself plainly written, so—).

Don’t search for meaning in worldly wisdom but transform your mind into His mind and see yourself and others as He sees us.

Remember.

God Himself, in flesh, stepped into our time-space domain and carried out an act of love on our behalf unlike anything mankind had ever seen.

It’s up to us to affirm we are worthy of rescuing—that He did that act of love because He sees us as amazing and so much more than mere people going through the motions.

We are worth being loved.

We are worth showing the love we’ve received to others, because, to put it plainly, they also are worthy of receiving that same love.

Tell yourself you are loved, you are more than the sum of your mistakes and shortcomings, and most of all, you are worth being loved.

Please believe that.

I sure do.