I thought that maybe God begrudged the business of transformation—that He had to fix me so He could love me more. As if the ultimate goal was for me to be perfect like Jesus so God could love me like He loved His own Son.

Without me being cleaned up, it would be impossible for God to love me—I was just too messed up.

But I started to wonder if I had it all wrong.

What if transformation wasn’t about God making me more perfect so He could love me more, but instead was about changing me so I could experience His love more perfectly?

…In our cheaply made, throw-it-away culture, we have a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that God doesn’t assess our inherent worth based on our perfection (or lack of it).

He finds us completely worthy just because we are —because He made us.

God doesn’t love us any less because we’re broken. In fact, the care and time He takes to restore our lives is just another way He shows how much He loves us.

He wants us to flourish for our sake.

His desire is for us to have more of what is most important—more peace, more joy, more love.

God has gone (and still goes!) to great lengths to repair us because He wants us to experience this abundant life.

He is pursuing His creation with a relentless love and His method is not to retaliate, it’s to rescue.

As we say “yes” and partner with him, He will transform every part of lives; our fears and anxieties, jealous tendencies and the source of our sadness, our pettiness and pain— they will all be uncovered, excavated and healed.

God’s endgame is for you and me to be completely and utterly able to live in the most intimate, unencumbered union with Him.

– Christa Hesselink

 

But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us.

– Romans 5:8 (VOICE)

 

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

– 1 John 4:16 (NLT)

 

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

– Romans 8:38,39 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart