As Christians, we often say we aren’t deserving of God’s love and a minute later we say He calls us worthy. But the words deserve and worthy have very similar definitions: showing qualities that merit a reward or punishment. So a certain type of person deserves either a bonus or a negative consequence. As far as salvation goes, we know sinners get the death consequence and saved people get the bonus of eternal life based on Jesus’ merits.
But what about God’s love? Do we have to claim Jesus’ perfect record to get that too? No. The Bible says God loved us before we accepted Jesus as our Savior. (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8) He’s always loved us.
Is that hard to swallow?
Do you find your soul pushing back, saying, “Well, He chooses to love us, but we don’t deserve it.”
Don’t you?
When a baby is born, we think it a crime to neglect it. We feel in our bones that every baby deserves love and is worthy of caring. We are heart-broken when we hear of babies in orphanages who learn not to cry because there aren’t enough caregivers to answer them. Who are those babies? What character have they shown? What have they contributed? Nothing, but they ARE worthy.
If God considers us worthy of love, and He’s the authority in my life, I’m not arguing. He’s not a delusional parent who thinks I sing like an angel when I can’t carry a tune. He is truth. What He declares is the reality of the universe.
No matter how wild it sounds, it’s true. No matter how much we hear we aren’t worthy, we can dismiss it in light of what God says. And if it still seems crazy, remember He said, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts and my ways higher than your ways.” If it seems foreign, that’s okay. Welcome to your new home.
You are important. You are loveable. He’s pronounced you worthy, because you are. He’s not just saying it to be nice and it’s not an empty promise. In His universe, you are worthy of love and the only response He’s ever had to you is love. It’s the most natural thing.
