You are LOVED, NOT for what you do, but for WHO you are

THIS world is about competition — being better than others, or being good enough for others. There aren’t many places we can go where we are welcomed and safe as we truly are. And it’s not always others forcing us up or down the social pecking order. We ourselves are the ones who feel driven to compete or to conform.

We place that kind of unrealistic pressure on ourselves.

Universal acceptance is something God is calling us to: self-acceptance, our acceptance of others, and, not least, our acceptance of God.

This is the principal reason God in Jesus came: to herald and to inhabit the good news; to let us know that we’re loved, not for what we do, but for who we are; that, we’re not judged here in this life for what we’ve done (our sins against God and others); that, we’re not condemned for the sin that is in us; that, in Jesus He sees us, and the Father is for us. As we immediately are. Unconditionally. Relationship. It’s about love. That’s about losing power:

There’s only one thing that really matters. Relationship. ‘Do you love me? Do you love me as I am?’

— Jean Vanier

Only when we have accepted people as they are will they be inspired to become better than they are. Only when we are accepted are we bravely curious enough to look at role models to become better ourselves.

Growth is contingent on acceptance,
for only when we’re free to be who we are
are we then enabled to become.

When we’re constrained within the vast chasms of division in this world we’re far from the Kingdom of God. Our thoughts are chaotic and awry and senseless. But when we loose our thoughts from judging and condemning, when we can let each and every person have their place, their view, the Kingdom of God comes immediately into sight.

Here is a fact for the naysayer of God:

You are loved by the Creator

of the universe and you,

yes, just as you are!

If only everyone knew.