Casandra Martin

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” – Ephesians 4:18-19

Some days it is hard to believe God loves us. We struggle with our circumstances, how we feel, and the reflection we see in the mirror. We hear a thousand voices telling us how we fall short, mess up, fail miserably, are not quite good enough, or are just shy of what is desired. Sometimes that voice is my own. We catalog our shortcomings with the thoroughness of a museum curator, ruthless and merciless of anything less than what we see as perfection. We carry a secret ache to be loved, but put up barriers to fully experiencing that love.

Here is the soul-freeing, guilt-releasing, shame-reducing, smile-inducing truth – we will never be worthy of God’s love. Before you shake your head, think about it. This is Good News! God loves you. Period. Not because you are good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, do enough, know enough, or are worthy enough. He loves you because you are His. He set His heart on loving you, and nothing is going to change His mind. Nothing! You can’t mess it up or talk Him out of it. He is willing to wade into our struggles and love us right where we are. He longs to unleash the power of His love to help us move, heal, worship, change, and grow. Living loved isn’t about being perfect. It is about choosing today to live in His presence.

My Jesus Resolution today is to soak in the truth that I am deeply, passionately, wholly, unconditionally loved. The world will tell me that I am unworthy, broken, dejected, hopeless, unlovely, and unfit for such a love. The truth is that God takes what is broken and makes it whole. He transforms what is unworthy into something beautiful and holy. He holds the dejected and hopeless and infuses new life and peace into each moment. God meets me where I am, in whatever state I am, and loves me. He longs for that love to change my thoughts, my eyes, my hands, my feet, my mouth, my ears, and my heart. When I hear the broken record of the world tell me that I am rejected and unwanted, I am going to sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ at the top of my lungs. He does, and He always will.