Created for Love

Scripture says God is good (Psalm 136:1). It also says He made us in His image (Genesis 1:26). If we bear the image of a good God, then the original intent of our identity is good. After the sin of Adam, we lost our original identity and were sentenced to spiritual death; separated from God’s good nature. This brings about the necessity of being re-born into the kingdom through Christ Jesus, whom God sent as the propitiation of our fallen sin (1 John 2:2). Once we’ve received Christ as our Lord and Savior and have decided to take up our cross to follow Him, our identity is restored in who He is, not in what we can do. The grace of the resurrection restores us to our original identity through the payment of sacrifice so we can be in right standing with our Father once again (Romans 5:10). The word says we are now co-heirs with Christ, we’ve inherited all that He has inherited!

I used to think that I wasn’t worthy of love. There was a point in my life when I’d felt like I wasn’t enough. I never measured up to standard and expectation; I didn’t say the right things or do the right things. Because of this mentality, I couldn’t believe I was worthy to be truly loved by God or those around me. In fact, if a person came into my life wanting to give me unconditional love, I was immediately suspicious of their intention. What was their motive for giving me grace? What was in it for them if they were kind? Would they love me if they knew the difficult parts of me? The filter through which I saw the world caused me to be unable to love anyone else around me because I couldn’t love myself or see my own value in the eyes of God.

God began to show me that I was seeing myself through the eyes of the first Adam; sin, and shame. He unraveled the truth of my identity through the last Adam, Christ; grace, forgiveness, and righteousness. I see now that I foolishly based my worth on personal performance, self-worthiness, and earned merit, but this is not the truth. My true and eternal value is based on who HE is not WHO I try to be. I was able to see clearly who I am by knowing WHOSE I am.

God gives the vision to perceive His creation the way He sees it to those who are willing to acknowledge His nature. Often, people who love themselves are able to afford the capacity to borrow grace to others. This was a perspective I’d eventually gain through the process of renewing my mind.

God was able to show me that no matter what I had done or what I struggled through that I will always be His goodness, not because I am good but because He is good.

I am loved because He is Love, I am saved because He is Salvation, I am righteous because He is Righteousness. I came to understand that He doesn’t make mistakes; He creates masterpieces!