Choosing Gratitudeናሙና

Day 10: For Outrageous Love 

The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.

— C.S. Lewis

Would you mind reading that incredible C.S. Lewis quote one more time? I’ll totally wait.

Thank you. Let that one seep into your bones. I am taken aback by who God is from that quote.

I think we can all agree that we are quite flawed. Beautiful, but broken. Spirited, but sinful. We don’t always work right.

And God is not shocked that we don’t work well. That we are sometimes jealous and hurtful and rude and deceitful and too much of something and not enough of something else. That we are imbalanced and we yell and we are messy. 

Yep.

He doesn’t love us because we are good.

He just loves us. Period. Which is pretty outrageous. Not one string attached. 

He made you and He loves you and He knows our mess and aren’t we grateful? I am thankful that the King is not in a state of shock but in a state of grace. And He's not shocked because He knows the full story. He made the beginning and He knows the ending. Of your story and mine.

And knowing YOUR full story, He came.  

He came small and helpless. He came in a smelly barn, humble, gentle. With-Us. For Us. He came to be with us because He made us and He loves us and He is for us.

I can get grateful about that. Grateful that His arms are big and wide and ready for us. That we can come to Him and tell Him anything and everything and say we want Him and He will say Me too.

God, thank you that your love is unbelievable. Thank you that you see us and love us. That you see our past and love us. That you see us now and love us. That you see what we can become, and love us. Thank you that your love is not conditional. Thank you that your love says you are FOR us. That your love hinges on nothing else but You. Thank you for Your outrageous love. 

God, I come to you in my brokenness and my mess. I need You. I come thankful for You and thankful for all You give. Amen.