Know This First: Sweet Friend, You are Loved

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” ~John 3:16

We cannot love fully well until we know fully the love He has for us. Sweet friend, lean in closely. You are so loved by your Creator, God. The same God who paints the changing leaves colors of red and orange is the God who created your very soul. Praise God that He knows us by name. He calls us by name. He knows you. How does that make you feel? What an honor that He created you for His purpose, He created your soul for His glory, He created your passions for His service, and He created your worth to be fulfilled in His perfection.

“How deep the Father’s love for us.  How vast beyond all measure that He would give His only son to make a wretch His treasure.”  ~How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, by Stuart Townend

Sisters among us? You, the woman doubting her worth and her purpose. I always think of these lyrics when I think of God’s love for me.  You may know these lyrics by heart.  Perhaps you can hear the tune in your head.  If this is all new to you, may I introduce you to a few words that strengthen my own soul?

“I will not boast in anything: no gifts, no power, no wisdom; but I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.  Why should I gain from His reward?  I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart; His wounds have paid my ransom.”   ~How Deep the Father’s Love for Us, by Stuart Townend

I’m willing to guess you feel “less than” and “not enough.”   Your inner chatter tells you that you are doing “less than her,” so you are “less than worthy.”  You worry that your best efforts, achievements, even your time spent with Jesus is “not enough.”  Yeah…I think we feel this way as women all too often.  {Sidenote: If you never feel this way, that is wonderful news!  Please send me an email with your method to complete optimism.  You are winning at life, sweet sister, if your inner chatter isn’t ever, ever a battle.  The rest of us?  I’m with you.  Stay with me here, precious friend.}  Ladies, even when we know better, our nature is often prone to compare ourselves with others in some way or another.  We’ll always fall short in the comparison game.

My mom used to say this thing when I was younger, “Someone will always be better.  Someone will always be worse.  Someone will always have more.  Someone will always have less.”  It was her way of reminding me not to compare myself to others, but to be humble and yet confident.  I’ve often passed her wisdom on to a friend stuck in the pits of “not enough.”  Perspective can change our attitude to reminds us to live with a spirit of gratitude and hope.

What does Jesus say about this “not enough” syndrome?  He reminds us to find our worth in Him.  He alone is worthy.  He alone is righteous.  He alone has defeated!  Whatever has you down?  He has overcome!  Whatever the enemy whispers in your ear?  Jesus has already won the real battle…and the enemy is so very jealous.  Jesus wants us to find our rest in Him.  He calls us to find our strength at His feet.  When we doubt ourselves and claim the label of “not enough,” He is there reminding us, “I am.”  He is.

To love others fully well, you must see yourself as a Creation of God.  If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  If He is ruling your life, your true identity is in Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for your sins and defeated death on a cross.  When you know this perfect love, you can love others so well by learning to live more and more like Jesus each day.  We’ll be focusing on this very thing all month in this series: 31 Days of Missional Living. 

   
Let’s love people so well because Jesus first loved us!!!  Every day of this entire month, we are going to focus on #1) the love of Jesus and then, #2) practical ways to share the love of Jesus with the people that God has already placed around us in our normal day to day.  It will be easier than you think!  …and we are soooo going to be creative with this!  Be excited.

Maybe you don’t know this love.  Sweet friend, you absolutely can!  You can know Jesus right now!!!  May I introduce you to Jesus?  I wrote about this very introduction in a recent September post.  I want you to know Jesus fully.  I can tell you all about that.  Read more, here.  Listen, I’m not sharing that for you to click on a blog post.  With all of my heart, I wrote that post to share the perfect love of Jesus with the readers of this blog.  I spilled my heart and so much of what I know about the Gospel there.  I’m so imperfect.  I may have done a horrible job of sharing the good news of Jesus, but I promise you that Jesus is the very best good news!  He loves you, friend.  Our God desires to spend eternity to you.  You’ve likely heard this before, but may I say it again?  Salvation with Jesus is a free gift.  Please learn more about Him.  You are so loved and so known and so cherished.  Jesus is the perfect love.  Run into His arms!

In the fullness of His complete and perfect love, we are set free to live like Jesus and to love the way He has first loved us.

“We love because He first loved us.”       ~1 John 4:19

From my heart to yours,

~Courtney