It is a process, this becoming. Becoming what. Becoming who. Becoming all we were ever intended to be. Becoming whole. Shedding layers of falsehood in order to pair down and simply yourself.
Be yourself as you were always intended to be. No worldly bells and whistles. Just you.
You see, we don’t need bells and whistles. Oh, we try them on from time to time, sometimes daily, trying to convince ourselves that they will make us more, make us better. But they are cumbersome. They are loud. And they distract from who we really are.
The world says that you, on your own, are not enough. This is not about advertisers and stuff, though the world would tell each of us that we could do with a bit more stuff.
This is about you. It is about your value and where that value comes from.
It is not rooted in your bank account.
It is not found in what your friends think of you.
It is not because you are married or single.
It is not based on your Google analytics or followers or retweets.
It is so simple, that you might find it disappointing at first when I tell you.
Your value value comes from and is rooted in LOVE. The love of a Father who, because of His great love for you, chose to come down and live as one of us, chose to die for us, chose to defeat death for us.
You are valuable because God loves you. I am valuable because God loves me. We are valuable because we are loved so deeply by an infinite and eternal God who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, so that we might be reconciled to Him, so that we might fully live in the love of the Lord.
**This sermon kick started this train of thought. If you’re interested, give it a listen.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I needed to read this today. Last night someone told me about the “place” of a woman and that one conversation set me in a tailspin. I need to pull out of the funk now.
I’m so sorry that hurtful words were thrown at you. Know that your place is with your Father, under the covering of His love for you. You are no less valuable because you are a woman.
I pray that today you know that you are deeply loved and valued by the Lord.
This was beautiful. It’s a print out and put on the fridge kind of post
Thank you, Corinne!
Wow…exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you!
Love it, love it, love it!! Thank you
I have to admit, when you started I began to put walls up. I fight with a lot of deeply taught Neo-Calvinistic theology that teaches me that I am rotten at my core. I fight daily to remember that, though I am rotten with sin, my core is what God created me to be, not who I am now, what I say or how I act, but how he created me to be. He died to rip off the dead, and restore the core of who I am.
Thanks, by the time I was done reading this I found myself smiling!
Thank you so much for sticking it out, seriously. It is important to understand our sinful nature so that we can in turn come to understand all that God has done in redeeming us. Glad to hear you were smiling by the end.
PS. I’m a sucker for a song that gets at just how I feel. This one: http://tinysong.com/fDgf by Shane & Shane helps me when I come up against this fight for understanding my value.
Wow! “He’s forgotten the refrain, Jesus saves!”
That may be one of the coolest songs I’ve ever heard!
Thanks for pointing us back to the simple truth. God delights in us. He doesn’t just tolerate us. He isn’t mildly interested. He’s truly, madly, deeply in love with us. And that makes all the difference!
i needed to be reminded of God’s love today! thnx for this! xo