If you grew up in the church you probably know the song “Jesus loves me”. As a child it was comforting to sing that song, but then somewhere along the way you grow up, and hurts happen and I think we all get to the point where we don’t like Jesus loves us. Perhaps we know it, but how can we believe it?
“If we accept the meanings of love that our culture feeds us, we question whether God loves us.” –Spoken For (Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Bethke) p. 56
And this can ultimately erode away our true identity.
So then, what even is love? I love my parents, my friends, my dog, christmas dinner. It seems that love is whatever makes us happy. Its all about how we feel. BUT “that kind of love is based on what they can do for us and when they fail, show weakness or don’t fill us up, we split…That kind of love is scary because there is no security. That’s why we hear ‘well I just fell out of love’ –Spoken For p.56 Our view of love and marriage is perhaps broken as we have watched parents be unfaithful to one another, walk out or file for divorce. We see our friends be mistreated by boys, or perhaps you have even experienced the heartbreak yourself.
But God’s love is NOT like human love. His love is not conditional, or based on what we do or don’t do. His love is pure and trustworthy. It is faithful. This is because God’s love is based on who he is and not on us.
“God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
This is mind-blowing stuff!
And can be difficult for our minds to grasp, because its not human love. Its true love. Love in its purest form.
We must believe this truth, even if we don’t feel it. We can’t go by our feelings. Did you hear that? We can’t go by our feelings.
And believe me, I know that is tough as a female with tons of emotions. Our feelings are all over the place, but our God is stable, his love is constant. It does not fluctuate based on feeling or emotion.
Here’s the simple, yet overwhelming truth:
God wants you. God loves you as he loves Jesus, his one and only son.
That feeling of wanting to be wanted and loved never goes away because we were created out of love to be loved. It will never be satisfied unless we fill it with Jesus. We were designed to crave love that could only be satirized in a dependent relationship with God. However, society tells us otherwise.
“You are a strong independent woman. You don’t need a man.”
“My man completes me, I am nothing without him.
Both are looking for satisfaction in something other than God, and even though those things aren’t bad, without God filling that deep desire it just won’t work. And time and time again I have to remind myself of this, and I hope this can be a reminder for you too.
Your worth is not found in our friends or the amount of friends we have. Your worth is not found in if a boy likes you. Your worth is not found in what you wear or how you look. Your worth is not found in the number of followers you have or the amount of likes you get. Your worth is in Jesus Christ Alone! Period!
You were made to be loved by Jesus.
He wants you.
He wants you just as you are, at this exact moment.
He longs for you to recognize him and notice him.
To read his love letter.
To talk with you.
He went to great lengths to win your heart.
And he is reaching out this very moment to you.
We don’t deserve God’s love, his mercy or his grace. Yet, he calls us his peculiar treasure, his treasured possession, his people, beloved, bride, chosen, child of God, masterpiece. He looks at us and sees these things. This is our identity.
I think every girl longs for a man to look at her with that overwhelming sense of love in his eyes. You see this most often at weddings. The music is queued, everyone stands and shifts their focus to the back of the room with expectation of the entrance of the bride. As the groom see’s his bride walking towards him, his face expresses such a riveting expression of love. And the bride is not consumed with the crowd around her, but is solely focused on her groom.
God is the bridegroom and we are his bride.
Believe it or not, Jesus is looking at you as a groom does at his bride. His eyes are full of delight, joy and radiant love, and one day we will meet him and be with him forever.
This life, that we are journeying on, is like the aisle that a bride walks down, and Jesus, our groom is waiting at the end of the aisle. Each step we take, each day that goes by, we are getting closer and closer to seeing his face in full clarity.
God’s pursuit of you is His top priority! How will you respond to the one passionately pursuing your heart? Is your pursuit of Him your priority? He wants you. All of you. You can start to live as a woman who fully embraces who she is and whose she is. This epic love story is yours. You are wanted. You are pursued. You are loved. You have been called. You are of great value. You are a peculiar treasure. You are set free. You are spoken for.
So walk forward from whatever situation you are in knowing and believing (even when we don’t feel it) that you are loved and you are God’s. And that my friend is enough.
If this post encouraged you or met you where you are at, here are some further things you can do to explore and understand your identity in Christ.
Read Spoken For by Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Bethke
Open up His love letter to you (aka the Bible). And if you don’t know where to start I recommend starting in John or James found in the New Testament.
Speak the truth over yourself! Declare this over to yourself (I know it may seem awkward to talk to yourself, but just do it) “I am pursued my God. I am wanted by Him. I am loved by God.”
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