Brilliantly YOU: Learning to Live Bold & Freeنموونە

YOU are perfectly loved.

Most of us understand the concept of unconditional love, but struggle to experience it in our day to day lives.

We live in a world where the paycheck we receive is based on the quality of work we do. The romantic relationship begins because each person appeared likable and charming enough to keep pursuing. The amount of work we put into being interesting and entertaining to others determines how many social media followers we have. In most social settings in our lives, we perform and then we are compensated appropriately.

To make the concept of unconditional love even more confusing is our own past experiences in relationships. Unconditional love feels more like a fantasy than reality to the wife whose husband just left her for a younger woman, or to the kid who was always compared to another sibling growing up, or to the teenager who felt pressured to do things they felt uncomfortable with to fit in, or the person whose friend’s stopping calling when they went through a difficult time, or to the overachiever who has only ever felt noticed when applauded for a job well done. 

And yet, the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ is radically unlike our flawed human experiences and societal norms. 

God is love. It’s not just what He offers. It’s who He is. He is love; and because it’s who He is, there will never be a shortage of His love in your life. 

Your sin, mistakes, failures, and heartbreaks can’t weaken His love. In fact, if you were to live your entire life running from God, and even hating Him or denying His existence, He will still love you. He will forever love you. 

God’s love towards you will never be revoked. He will never love you more than He does today. In fact, He never grew or fell in love with you. You did absolutely nothing to earn His love. He has simply loved you always, completely and perfectly.

When you open your heart to this wild truth, the need to perform for acceptance begins to weaken. People-pleasing loosens its tight grip. The need to always be in control continues to shrivel away. And the chains of guilt and shame are broken as well. Because of the unconditional love of God that is complete in every way, you can live free and at peace. 

TODAY’S CHALLENGE: Take a few minutes to think about how perfectly loved you are by God. Remind yourself of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for you on the cross and how God shows you how much He loves you through this act of unconditional love. At the end of this meditative moment, pray aloud, “Thank you, Heavenly Father, that I am perfectly loved by You.”