I am replacing my bathroom vanity with a ready-made one. To make sure it fits properly, I need to know its measurements, how wide, high and deep it is. The new cabinet needs to match these dimensions exactly. I’m glad I don’t have to reach a specific set of requirements to be embraced by God.
We all want to be accepted. Our natural inclination is to find it outside ourselves, thus letting others define our worth — filling our lives with all sorts of things and people that, in the end, do not satisfy but take us further away from finding it. Career, education, fame, beauty, and wealth can cause us to go on a wild goose chase to earn acceptance. Although many of these are worthy pursuits, we become hostage to endless striving when they become our identity. God’s grace disrupts that kind of thinking. His love is infinite and makes our identity secure.
Human beings crave to be loved for who they are, not what they do or what they have. When people are valued for what they do, they are not unique; someone else can do the same work, perhaps even better. If one bases their worth on what they have, that too is fleeting, as there is always someone more accomplished, attractive, or prosperous. But when a person is loved for who they are, they become a unique and irreplaceable personality; their very being gives them worth. God’s love frees us to be ourselves.
There is a limit to human love, but God’s love is infinite. God’s love is not contingent on how we measure up but on His unchanging nature to embrace His children no matter what they do. His love never gives up on us. It is wide enough to include everyone, deep enough to address any need, and long enough to last forever.
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