Well, I believe I said I would post every Wednesday morning. And alas, it is Wednesday night. SO, I overrule my previous statement to say simply Wednesdays :) I’m sorry for my own inconsistency.

Today/tonight I want to focus on perhaps one of the most simple truths of the gospel, yet one that so many struggle to really believe. I want you to know that you are loved. Deeply, truly, personally, unconditionally loved.

I think for many (including myself) that is a really hard thing to believe. I’m not sure why it can be such a struggle, but it is. I sit here wondering why that is so tough to grasp and I think it’s simply Satan. One of the deepest desires of any (and every) human is simply to be loved. In that deep, true, personal, and unconditional way. We long for satsifaction that affirms who we are and what we are doing and we look for it in every place but the one who has it.

Love is hard. For selfish, sin-soaked humans to forsake our desire to please self and to instead serve another is not just unnatural, it is impossible. Without the strength of Christ in us we cannot love. We will forever choose to serve ourselves. That is, my friends, if we acting out of our flesh. Our inclination is to do whatever will best advance our work… yet in Christ, well… all bets are off. Everything changes.

Do you believe that? With your whole heart? Do you really believe that when you are in Christ everything changes?

It does. It should. It must.

It must because as followers of Jesus we bear His name like a stamp on our foreheads. Either we acurately promote who He is and what He is about (grace, forgiveness, honesty, love) or we misrepresent who He is and what He came to do. I beg you not to do the latter.

1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” Plain and simple, sista. We have the ability to love because God loved us. And He not only loved us, He showed us His love by sending Christ to take punishment that we earned by sinning against Him! It wasn’t fair! But then again, love usually isn’t.

I need you to know that you are loved by our Father. Whether your earthly dad was good or bad to you is not what I want you to think of right now. The most beautiful way that Jesus knew to describe Yahweh was that of a perfect father.

I want you think of Yahweh and think of the love that it took for Him to choose to place all of your sin on His Son.. and not just the sin but the wrath it deserved. Think of that Father and that love. Think briefly of your own sin and deeply you have offended the Father who has given you “every good and perfect gift” (James 1:17). I say think only briefly because to dwell in your sin would miss the point. You have been rescued and redeemed. You are no longer bound to sin! Because of His love. All because of His love for YOU. And when you think that your sin is too great; when you think your unfaithfulness deserves not a faithful Lord; when you think that no one could ever love you again remember this:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

That is PROMISE, dear girls, that is as sure as the Lord it speaks of. Nothing can separate you from His love.

Find peace in knowing that YOU ARE LOVED.