No Matter What You’ve Heard: You Are Loved

Faith is: growing in the certainty of God’s love by the proof of Him sending His Son to die and rise for you, knowing that He wants to spend the rest of eternity with you.

When you believe this, then four things are certainly true —

You are free from the approval and validation of others.  I know that saying “you’re loved by God” doesn’t just flip a switch, and there will be many days when you still wished for someone to show you some affection.  But human approval is such a fickle thing.  Even in the height of good friendships, we are still limited to how much we can give and receive validation. It’s okay to want human affection, but it’s possible to drain from others what only God can give you.  Our confidence first comes from the infinite wellspring of God.

You are free to be real with people. You don’t have to impress anyone.  You don’t have to bargain with others for your status, popularity, or good will.  You can be awkward, nervous, anxious, and vulnerable, because your life does NOT depend on other peoples’ perception of your value.  You have an infinite value purchased by the life of Christ.  And if someone wants to judge you outside of this, that’s more reason not to base your life off them anyway.

You are free from self-esteem.  I know everyone has a loop of self-talk that replays over and over.  We are either in self-condemnation or self-exaltation.  But God says you are so loved that you cannot be crushed, and also so loved that you cannot make it on your own.  Be free from the lie that “self-esteem” can make you or break you.  The power of humility is that there is no esteem except the undeserved grace of God which He has given you by the gift of His Son.

You are free from fixing yourself. Do we know anyone who has successfully fixed themselves, ever?  I’ve seen people try, desperately, and fail, miserably.  The Christian’s progress is submitting to the Spirit of God so that He would flex His fruits through you in a powerful display of His glory.  God will do this.  Philippians 1:6 says, “Be confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it unto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  In every moment, submit to what God would have you do.  Don’t grade yourself on a scale — and sooner or later, you will have grown in Christ without hardly noticing.

— J.S.