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CHRISTIAN LIVING TODAY
Many children learn the lyrics “Jesus loves me, this I know — for the Bible tells me so.” I learned them too, yet I was a pastor’s wife for almost 20 years before I finally understood that God loves me.
Of course, I knew that God loves you and the world, but I often wondered and doubted whether or not He really loves me. Somewhere deep inside my heart remained that destructive doubt — the gnawing question.
I knew He numbers all the hairs on my head, and that my head is unique from yours; I knew God’s Holy Spirit is as close to me as the very breath that flows in and out of my lungs, yet even so, uncertainty robbed me for too many years.
A couple of scriptures helped confirm His love:
• Psalm 139:18. God was creatively involved from conception. Yes, our birth, the timing of our birth, our lifespan is no accident.
• Genesis 1:26-27. God assigns value on every person. When God formed the first man, Adam, and then his wife, Eve, God placed His value on them. Speaking of the fullness of God at work in creating mankind, we are all created in God’s image. Because of this, we arrive at our birth with assigned value, and value means each of us is significant. We are born with a Godly value because we carry the very image of God, which includes purpose — a reason to live.
I contend that value and purpose are misunderstood. People think purpose is something to do, or a meaningful activity, when truly our value is who we are, not what we do. Please stop and think about that a bit — the value is in who engages in the activity, not merely the activity itself.
God assigns value, then He allows us to engage in life activities that bring honor and glory to Him. He invites His children to join Him in displaying who He is, and His love in our world. We have opportunity to live our life in such a way that people see God, not us.
Most importantly, God’s love is about Him — not about us. We cannot be bad enough for Him to turn away from us, nor can we be good enough to claim His attention or merit.
God initiated value and love, and His love for us is what we respond to.
Responding to His love is our purpose, and our response takes various shapes and forms.
Until next week, Anita
Onarecker, a writer, author and minister to women and adults, earned a Master of Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007.
