Monday Morning Memo: Because You Are You

If you are reading this…congratulations…you have survived the holidays!  Many of us look forward to December, but then are just thankful by the end of the month that we made it through.

I think children are usually the most thankful that Christmas arrives because it takes many days of being good so that Santa showers them with presents.  Our daughter is a nanny and she was telling me that the children she cares for had been counting down as to how many days were left in which they had to behave.  We all know what the song warns, “You better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming to town.  He's making a list and checking it twice; he's gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.  Santa Claus is coming to town.”  A tall task to accomplish for some children!

Unfortunately, I think many adults have the same thoughts about God.  They look at Him as someone who they have to be good for, for Him to care about them.  They believe they have to get their life all in order before He will shower them with His love.  They couldn’t be more wrong.

Did you know that God loves you because you are you?  Re-read that sentence if you need to.  There is nothing you can do to earn His love.  There is nothing in your life that you have to clean up before He will care about you.  He created you and loves you more than you can imagine and there is nothing in your past or your present or even your future that will stop Him from loving you.  He loves you because you are you.

I read something on the first day of 2016 that jumped off the page at me and made me realize just how much God loves us.  I make it a practice to read the Bible through each year so I returned to Genesis on January 1.  As I’m sure you know, we read in the third chapter that Adam and Eve messed up BIG time.  They had it all…everything anyone would ever want.  Life was perfect in the Garden of Eden and beyond anything we can imagine.  But because they were human…they wanted more and so when the snake (Satan) tempted them to sin…it didn’t take them long to go against what they had been told.  Immediately they knew they had done wrong.  Instantaneously, they felt shame and hid when God came because they were naked.

Was God happy?  Absolutely not.  He immediately told them what the consequences would be because of their sinful actions.  They, and everyone who entered the world after them, would pay a price for their choices. 

Now if I had been God, I probably would have left them stew in their mess for quite a while.  They had been given paradise…but they chose their own selfish desires instead.  I would have, more than likely, let them feel shame for a long time for their sin and for their nakedness. I would have probably walked out of the garden, slamming the gate behind me, so that they would know just how ticked off I was. 

But do you know what God did instead?  Get ready for this…I had never noticed this before…but verse 21 in Chapter 3 tells us, “And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

Are you serious?  Remember, they messed up BIG time and changed the course of history.  But God still loved them so much He made them clothes so they would not feel shame in their nakedness.  Just blows my mind.

If God still loved Adam and Eve after what they had done, don’t you think He can still love you, regardless of what you have done?  If you have accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, you are His child and He can hardly wait to spend eternity with you.  If you haven’t accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, you need to know that He loves you so much that He sent His Son to die just for you.  I can’t imagine that kind of love.  He did it so that you can be cleansed from your sins and also spend eternity in His presence.

Did you know that you were created in His image?  You were created to look like Him…the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He wants nothing more than for you to come to Him, just the way you are, and allow Him to mold you and shape you to reflect Him. 

This is a new year and a great time for a new beginning.  What better way to begin 2016 than to remember that the Almighty God, the creator of the universe, loves YOU because YOU are YOU.  There isn’t a Santa Clause on earth that can top that!

By the way, if you haven’t accepted Christ into your heart, why not start this new year by doing just that.  Remember, you can’t earn your way to heaven…or just be a good enough person…you need to come to Him and ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you from your sins.  I recently read the following prayer of salvation in “Living Beyond the Limits” and it would be a great one for you to repeat:

“Dear God, I know I am a sinner.  I am sorry for my sin.  Forgive me.  I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, died on Calvary’s cross for my sins and that You raised Him from the grave.  I want to invite Christ into my heart and live for Him as my Lord and Savior from this day forward, in Jesus name. Amen.”

If you just prayed this prayer, I would love for you to let me know.  Feel free to e-mail me at luannfulton@gmail.com any time.  I want to be praying for you and help you any way that I can as you begin your new journey with your Savior! 

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should

not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors 

through him who loved us. 

For I am sure that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height nor depth, 

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us from the love of God 

in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:37-39