This simple truth touched my heart and soul profoundly recently: “God created you to love you.” I heard Pastor Rick Warren say it during a sermon a couple months ago, and it’s been simmering on the back burner of my mind.
Then it gripped me one morning. Whoa. (as only Keanu Reeves can say it.)
What was so wonderful about this phrase? It touched me, it moved me, it caused awe and wonder. A pinch of disbelief. Really, God? That is why I was created? That’s not all, granted, there are many other reasons too.
Incredulous. I had studied theology in graduate school for 4.5 years and got credentialed a theological degree. I’ve studied more theology than 99% of the world’s population. And this little sentence could still grab my attention and move me so, even at the latter half of my 40s? I’d rather go cognitive and rationalize it and explain it. Ah, it’s the depth of God’s truth that is unfathomable. After years and years of study and reflection and practice, we mere finite human beings can only understand so little about God, like a drop in the ocean, oh how vast and infinite is God’s wisdom.
But there’s much more going on here, this stirred something inside of me. Hearing it and reflecting upon it and meditating on it, and remembering it in a vulnerable time of need, this awakened something in me. Maybe I’ve finally come to the point of opening myself up to receive this love from God. Maybe I’m allowing myself to be loved. Maybe God’s Spirit has open the eyes of my heart in a new way that I had not experienced before.
Maybe I’ve come to a better appreciation of how special I’ve been created, not to do something special, not to perform, not to achieve, not to accomplish, not to fulfill some purpose. God created me to love me. Resting in that and receiving that… the reason God created me? Just to love me, first and foremost. Let that sink in, first and foremost. Don’t hurry to the next thing, the task, the to do list, the drive to be productive, the urgency to save the world or make a difference.
Loved. Accepted. Adored. Joy. Marvel. Wonder. Valued. Treasured. Welcomed. Appreciated. Remembered. Celebrated. Known. Relax. Rest.
I need God’s love, not just once and for all. I need God’s love often, and I need more of God’s love than what I’ve had, because my soul was thirsty for more. I need God.
Oh it’s good to be blogging personally and journaling again. I find life to be so much more satisfying when I can freely open up and share the random thoughts on my mind and heart. No need to fill a quota of goals or objectives. Just let me be, and let it flow. Thanks for reading. Peace.
And to spell it all out, yes, God created you to love you, too.
Comments
4 responses to “God created you to love you”
YEAH, and He did to love you to the uttermost!!!
Thank you Tony! Praise to our good Lord!
For some reason, I thought of my own little ones when I heard this phrase. Perhaps the root of my desire to be a father is to love my kids. Not so that they can love me back, or because of some selfish desire to brag about them, or because starting a family is what is expected of me…
Yet my love isn’t perfect. Unlike our Father’s which is truly unconditional, I fear that my love might be closer to the way I was raised: my parents’ love often felt behavior or accomplishment-based, reducing me to a performing monkey to fulfill their own needs
Thus its hard to fathom this perfect love… but if we truly understand these 6 little words, we can love because He first loved us. And then we can try to model this crazy love towards others, especially our kids.
To understand God or His love, is beyond our ability. We must realize God is love, thus His essence is love.