God loves me just as I am
So why do I have to change? (Part two)
“God loves you unconditionally, as you are and not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.” ~Brennan Manning
1 John 4:7 , Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. No one does, or ever will, love you more than God. God IS love, and love comes FROM God. His love for us is unconditional, it cannot be earned, if it could, Jesus would not have had to die on the cross.
Because of His great love for us, he calls us out of the darkness and into His light, in other words, out of the things in life that pull us away from Him, aka, sin. For scripture tells us, God cannot be present where there is sin. This is the part where it gets tricky from our simplistic and human perspective about God’s love.
To be clear, I am not professing to be a scholar on this subject, but I do understand who God is, and who I am not. I was born a sinner. I am a sinner. I am unworthy of God’s love on my own accord. It’s true, God 100% loves me, just as I am, and He will always welcome me at His table, BUT…that does not mean I get to live my life any way I choose.
photo by Bethany Laird @bethlaird
This is where the rubber meets the road with the world and many churches. This is the challenging question that is so difficult to understand. If God loves me just as I am, then why do I need to change? Do I need to change? I thought God’s love for me is unconditional. How is requiring me to be anyone other than my “authentic” self, not conditional love?
God does love us, unconditionally, but there is an expectation that if we truly meet Him, we will be changed. As I said, I am no expert. However, I do know that if we could be what we were created to be, and if we could love ourselves and others from a healthy, and unselfish perspective, we wouldn’t need God.
We should challenge ourselves to maintain a healthy sense of self-love, and to love others as Jesus loves others. As I mentioned in last week’s MMJS and blog, God loves me just as I am, So why don't I?, we are not capable of doing this without Jesus. Left to ourselves, we are prideful, self-absorbed people.
The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians how believers are to show the world that we know Jesus. While He loves us just as we are, the following is how others will know we belong to Him. We will not look like the rest of the world.
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)
God loves us just as we are. When we understand who God is, and what that love cost Him, the death of His son on the cross, we should be changed. Our desires should no longer be of this world, but for the things that draw us closer to Jesus. Once we truly meet God and understand His love for us and the price that was paid, our hearts should be changed.
photo by Jack Sharp @jacksharp_photography
God desires the following five characteristics in the life of believers so the world will know we belong to Him. (paraphrased from, (FC Fellowship Church blog)
1. Humility-Jesus was humble. He is the example of humility. Humility begins in our hearts and leads to gentleness. God loves us as we are, but once we know Him, we should desire to humble ourselves and allow Him to lift us up.
2. Gentleness-The world says meekness is weakness, but God says meekness is gentleness and kindness, and a willingness to submit to God’s will. God says meekness is strength under control. Humility is the key to unity, and evidence of God in one’s life.
3. Patience-The Greek meaning of this word is long tempered, of long suffering. Those with patience are not quick tempered, they are slow to anger, they don’t give in to negativity or challenges, and there’s an acceptance of God’s will or plans for everything.
4. Tolerance-This is a product of being patient, which is a product of gentleness/meekness, which is a product of humility. Tolerance is a love that doesn’t affirm sin or evil but loves beyond and accepts.
5. To Be Known for the Bond of Peace-When we live with our focus on these characteristics, people will take notice. They will see that we are different than the rest of the world. That something has changed us, and that something is Jesus.
In His great love for us, God didn’t leave us on our own to do the right things by our own strength and striving. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” When we meet Jesus, in the depths of our sin and muck, He will give us what we need to be better than He found us.
The world and the modern Christian perspective tells us two mixed messages about God’s love that are potentially damaging to our souls. The first is that God loves us just as we are. Period, end of story. Second, that because of His unconditional love for us, we can live however we so desire. Jesus already paid the price, and I can reap the blessings without any change or growth. I can just “be me.”
These are lies. Yes, God loves us just as we are. He made us. We were born into a broken world, full of sin. We are broken and sinful people, until we meet Jesus. All throughout scripture, those who truly met Jesus became new. They left their old broken, sinful ways, and became a new person.
Romans 6:6, The Message Bible, tells us, “Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer captive to sin’s demands!”
As I age, and daily seek God’s will for me and my life, as I seek to understand His love even more, I’m beginning to think that maybe there’s a better way to think about God’s love for me. Maybe it makes more sense, and is less likely to lead to arrogance, or apathy on my part, to think of it this way.
Rather than telling myself, God loves me just as I am, and therefore, I am, just who I am, and that’s good enough. Maybe I need to remind myself that, I am certain God loves me, despite of the way I am, and in spite of myself and my selfish ways.
Thinking of it this way gives me confidence in His love, but it also creates a desire in me to want to live as He calls us to live because that is where I will be the best version of me.
“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us” and also “we are bidden to ‘put on Christ’, to become like God. That is, whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.“ ~ C.S Lewis
Lewis’ point is that, yes, in fact, God does love us, but because of this love, He wants to change us into His image. ~Brandon Medina
Reflect & Pray
Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come! —Charlotte Elliott
No one is too good or too bad to be saved.
Additional Resources: Francis Chan, God's Love For Us , Billy Graham- On The Love of God , Because God loves us-Billy Graham , Just as You Are, David Yarborough. , Do You Love Yourself Enough?
