We’ve been conditioned our entire lives to please others. We go to school to get a degree so that we can stand out among employers. If we don’t have as good credentials as the next person, our chances of getting our desired job is stifled. And even once we get in a job position, we constantly have to prove our worth. This is true whether we are content with maintaining the position that we already possess or we’re moving to a higher level.The truth is most things in life are measured by merit.

It makes matters even worse when you feel like you’ve done everything according to plan and rejection comes creeping at your door. In those moments, you begin to feel like you just aren’t good enough because someone else is a more picturesque version of what they’re looking for.

And because this is such a huge part of our everyday lives, we often treat God as if He operates this way. But I am so overjoyed that He doesn’t. Despite our flaws, God loves us for who we are. His love is unconditional. There is no clause or meticulously orchestrated plan to prove that you are deserving of His love.

“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:10 NLT

The prior bible verse makes it very clear where love originated from. It isn’t from ungodly men and women that can so easily get entangled in the wages of sin and fall short of their purpose. Love comes from the one true God.

And the beautiful part about it is He not only created a feeling of love, but He demonstrated that it is something that needs to be acted out. God gave His only son to pay the finite atonement for our sins so that we could be saved once and for all.

Because of God’s love, we are redeemed, set free and truly able to love both ourselves and others.

-Jas