God Loves You Just As You Are

God Loves You Just As You Are

John 3:16-17 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

I wrestled with God this morning when he gave me this scripture.  “Isn’t that more of a lenten scripture?” I asked God.  However, I still got the feeling He wanted me to talk about this passage, so here goes.  What stuck out to me today was the last part of this verse.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  I think often times we think of the Lord as sitting up in heaven looking down on us and judging us.  We see Him as a judge who is looking for reasons to condemn us.  I think God is trying to tell us this morning that this is not the case.  He loves us and wanted to save us from our own mistakes.  Sometimes we think our mistakes end with us and this isn’t always the case.  Adam & Eve fell from grace and their mistake in taking the apple from the enemy created original sin.  Every one of us was born with original sin and because of this we do many things that are against the way we should be living.  Because of original sin, we no longer had a close relationship with the father.  There always needed to be something to separate us.

Hebrews 9:1-9 tells us that in the temple a veil separated the Holy of Holies—the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence—from the rest of the temple where men dwelt. This signified that man was separated from God by sin (Isaiah 59:1-2). Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil once each year (Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 9:7) to enter into God’s presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins (Leviticus 16).  God did not want this separation.  This was not why He created Adam and Eve.  At the beginning before their sin, He walked with them and among them.  That is how it what was intended for our relationship.

I guess I think of this scripture usually as more of a Lenten scripture because when I hear the words “he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” I think of the sacrifice and I think of Jesus dying on the cross.  I don’t think this is what God wants us to think of this morning.  I think he wants us to focus on two things.  The first one is His love for us.  Think of how much God has to Love us in order to send us his son.  Think of how much love he must have for us to sacrifice his only son in atonement for our sins. God must really love us.  He does love us that much.  God’s love for us is so great and it is never changing.  I heard Steven Furtick on the Elevation podcast say the other day, my love for my kids is an 11.  Out of 10, he loves his kids an 11.  This is like God’s love for us.  Take a minute and think of someone you love more than anything, it may be your spouse, your children, you parents, your siblings, your boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever it is for you.  Think of how much you love them.  Now if you multiply that number by 1,000 that is how much God loves us.  

God’s love always amazes me because it is so pure and it is so unconditional.  There is a new song I heard on the radio recently and I love it.  It makes me tear up sometimes when I hear it because I think of all the people I know that don’t know God loves them like they are.  There are so many people that don’t feel loved.  They don’t feel accepted by anyone.  It breaks my heart that they don’t know how completely loved and accepted they are by God.  This new song is by King and Country, who are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands of all time, and the song is called, “Love Me Like I Am.”  (Click Here for link to song) Here are the words:

I am a little unstable

Loose wires always getting tangled now

I am a little bit difficult

I can be a little self-critical now

I am a little unable

To put all my cards on the table now

But somehow You're still with me

It's amazing that You can

Love me like I am

And even when I can't

You still love me as I am

Oh, I don't know how You do it

And I know I put You through it

Yeah, it's amazing that You can

Love me like I

Love me like I

Am

I am a little uneven

In need of a little more healing now

Yes, I am

And I feel a little unfixable

You're nothing short of a miracle now

'Cause somehow You're still with me

It's amazing that You can

Love me like I am

And even when I can't

You still love me as I am

Oh, I don't know how You do it

And I know I put You through it

Yeah, it's amazing that You can

Love me like I

Love me like I

Am,

I just love this song and I love these lyrics.  Mostly because they describe each one of us.  Who among us hasn’t felt a little unstable at some point in our lives?  Who hasn’t been self-critical or felt a little unfixable?  I also love it because it describes God’s love so perfectly.  He loves us just as we are.  It isn’t that he will love us when we get our stuff figured out.  It isn’t that he will love us when we aren’t feeling so broken.  It is not that he will love us once we do this thing or that thing.  God loves us right here, right where we are.  God loves us completely just as we are.  God loves us in the middle of the mess just as much as he loves us when we have things figured out.  I don’t know who needed to hear that today, but God loves you, just as you are!  You don’t have to change for him to love you.  He already loves you.  It doesn’t matter how many times you have turned away from Him, he still is there waiting with open arms to welcome you in.  God loves you, just as you are!

The second thing God wants us to focus on is the part where it says, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Christmas time is a time to celebrate baby Jesus coming into the world.  It is a time to remember that God send Jesus, not to condemn us, but to save us.  Baby Jesus is a symbol of that love I was just talking about.  Baby Jesus is an answer to the promise God gave us.  Such a small baby and yet so much love and hope inside of him.  I think God wants us all thinking about how much He loves us today.  If you are feeling lonely, which I know can be common during the holidays, remember how much you are loved by God and remember He is always right by your side.  If you are feeling unloved today, remember how much God loves you just as you are.  If you are feeling unaccepted by those you love today, remember God accepts you and loves you for you.  I really feel strongly that this message was for someone listening that is struggling today.  If that is you, know that God loves you so much that he gave me this message for you specifically.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, it is amazing that you can love us like we are.  It is amazing that you can love us in our brokenness.  We are so grateful for your love.  Lord, please help us love like you love.  Please help us to show those who feel unloved love.  Please help us find those who feel broken and unloveable or un accepted and help us to love them like you love.  It breaks my heart that so many people in the world can feel so unloved.  Help us try to fix that.  Show us how we can help those people feel loved.  Help us to help them Lord.  We love you so much and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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