18th May 2006

What God Does
By John Fischer

Jump in the mess of human lives undressed
And sin unconfessed . . . and see beauty.
Look at the sea of misfits and misery
And cry ‘til you bleed . . . and see beauty.
That's what God does!
That's what God does!
That's what God does, why can't we?
- The rock group, Skypark

God is crazy about you. He’s all over you like a glove. God waits for you, hanging on your every word. He loves to hear you call to him. He has been relentlessly pursuing you since before you were born; he sacrificed his Son to remove the barriers to his love for you; and he has plans for you that go way beyond anything you can imagine. How do I know all this? I’ve been reading about it in the Bible for most of my life, and I know it in my heart, and I’m telling you about it because I figure if I keep on like this, I’ll eventually begin to believe it for myself.

Appropriating God’s unconditional love is not as given as it might seem. Jesus said we were to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, but what if I have a problem loving myself? Then the reverse is most likely true; I won’t love anyone else either.

The only way you disqualify yourself from experiencing the unconditional love of God is to think of yourself as better than most everybody (my particular version of it) or to think of yourself as worse than most everybody (I’ve got a little of this, too). How tragic to be measuring and comparing ourselves — trying to qualify for a love we’re already qualified for just by being alive!

Here’s how to end all this nonsense. Accept God’s love as totally undeserved. I’m just as much a scoundrel as the next guy, but here’s the amazing thing, God’s crazy about both of us! He looks at us and sees beauty. Don’t ask why or how; just believe it. Believe it and you’ll start to see yourself that way too. Then loving others will be a lot easier because you have accepted yourself as you are, through God’s love for you. No reason to think of yourself as better or worse than anyone else; we are simply all recipients of the amazing grace of God when none of us deserve it.

Since when do you love people just because they exist? Since you found out that’s what God does! So when it comes to loving yourself, do what God does: Look at yourself and see something beautiful. Soon you’ll see everyone else that way, too.