Let’s pretend I am a senior in high school, and I am an amazing athlete. For those of you who know me well, you know that high school was a very long time ago and the thought of me being an amazing athlete at any stage of my life brings hysterical laughter. But if you would, please allow me to live in this dream world for a moment.
I am not just an amazing athlete; I am the cream of the crop. Colleges from all over the country are contacting me wanting me to come to their school and play for their team. I’m getting offers for a free ride, for extra perks that are only offered to the best. Everyone showers me with love and attention, and they will do just about anything to get me to select their campus.
I finally narrow my choices down and select my college of choice and a meeting is set for me to sign the all-important letter of intent. I arrive at my destination and the room is filled with cameras from every TV station around, making sure this momentous occasion is captured on film for the world to see. Right before my pen hits the paper though, I lean into the mic and make the following statement:
“I am honored to be here today and am really excited to play for this team. But, before I set foot on this campus to live, I want you to know ahead of time that I am not going to follow through on any promises that I make. I know this school has a no drinking policy, but I love to drink and I plan on getting plastered every chance I get. In fact, I’m guessing I will be hung over so much that I won’t make it to most of my classes and I really doubt I will feel up to going to practices. I also know that one of the rules is that guys can’t be in the girls’ dorm rooms after midnight, but I don’t care about that. I’ll have as many guys as I want in my room for as long as I like and you can’t tell me any different. I’ll run this school down to everyone I meet and backstabbing others will be a favorite pastime of mine. It won’t matter to me how much you plan to do for me; my complete focus will be on me, my needs and my desires.”
By the time I finish my speech, the athletic director is squirming. I’m not the person he thought I was and I’m definitely not someone he wants on the school’s team. He then stands up, rips up my letter of intent and says, “Thanks, but no thanks. You’re not who we thought you were, and we want no association with you.” It’s interesting that up until this moment, they thought I was pretty amazing and probably about as perfect as they come…but in just a few minutes, their “picture” of me was shattered and their high hopes for my abilities were dashed.
In this pretend scenario, the school only cared about me for as long as they thought I was what they wanted for their sports team. As long as I kept up my part of the bargain, everything was fine. But when I showed my faults and failures, their “love” for me suddenly disappeared.
You are probably wondering about now where in the world I am going with all of this. This illustration comes to my mind as I think about God’s love. Did you know that He loved you and me before we were even born? He even loved us before the world was created. Ephesians 1:4 & 5 tells us, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
This just blows my mind to think that He has always loved me. What really amazes me is that when He decided to love me…when he decided to adopt me into His family…he knew that I would fail Him. He knew that I would have tons of faults and failures but that didn’t deter Him from loving me.
Nothing I have ever done has surprised Him. Not once, when I acted against His teaching…when I chose to sin instead of listening to His leading…did He say, “Wow, if I would have known she was going to do that, I sure wouldn’t have said I would love her. If I had realized that she wasn’t going to live up to my standards, I sure wouldn’t have sent my Son to die for her. Thanks, but no thanks LuAnn. You’re not who I thought you were, and I want no association with you.” He knew…but He still loved. There has been nothing that I have ever done…nothing that I will do today or in the future that will stop Him from loving me.
The same is true for you. God doesn’t look at the failures in your past and stamp “REJECTED” on your life. He knew before the stars were put in place that you would disappoint Him with your actions, but that didn’t stop Him from loving you then or now. He adopted you knowing full well that you wouldn’t be perfect; that you wouldn’t live a life free of sin. His love for you was and continues to be limitless.
If you struggle with feeling worthy of His love, re-read the verses I shared in Ephesians. Remind yourself that God loved you from the beginning, and His choosing to adopt you into His family brought Him great pleasure!
By the way, since we have a God who loves us that much, why in the world wouldn’t we desire to love Him? Why wouldn’t we do all we could do to be a child who acts like Him and loves like Him? No one else even comes close to deserving our praise and our obedience like He does. I hope you feel like I do when I say that there is no other “team” I’d rather be on than His!
No comments:
Post a Comment