Justin Tucker, LHBC Worship Pastor

Romans 5:6-8

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I was found

Before I was lost

I was Yours

Before I was not

You wear the scars

For all my mistakes

And that part just wrecks me

Sometimes the idea of being used by Jesus can feel impossible. He sees us for who we really are. He sees our brokenness, our selfishness, our pride, our insecurities. He sees all of the secret places in our hearts that we keep hidden from others. What if He finds  out that we aren’t as loveable to others as we appear? What if He sees the thoughts that our filters catch before they come out of our mouths? We all ask ourselves these questions, as we do, we need to  remember what David wrote about God in Psalm 139. He wrote that God knows when we sit down and when we rise. He knows every word that comes from our mouths before you speak. We can’t escape Him, no matter how hard we try or how far we run. He was there when He knit each of us together in our mother’s womb. He has numbered every hair on our heads, every doubt in our hearts, and every part of our souls.

Because He already knows all those things about us, there’s no reason for us to fear knowing or being known by God. in spite of our shortcomings and our failures…He’s always been there, loving us completely. He loved us so much that He carried a cross up a hill and gave up His life to take the punishment for our sin. We surely don’t  deserve that kind of love. But, this is the kind of love that God is. I love the “But God” moments in scripture. We see this one in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 and 5: 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. Because of the shed blood of Jesus, God no longer sees our sin, He sees His Son. We couldn’t ever earn or deserve that kind of love. Because of that love God allows us to enter into a relationship with Him, He chooses to love us and accept us just as we are in our brokenness. His love doesn’t stop there though, it continues on because He loves us far too much to leave us in our state of brokenness. He dwells within us in the form of the Holy Spirit, guiding and directing our steps and thoughts…changing us from the inside out to be more like Jesus.

Let me encourage you… when you meet with Jesus, don’t be afraid to peel back the armor around your heart (He sees through that anyway). Ask Him the hard questions, give up to Him the things that you so desperately want to control but can’t. Don’t filter with Him, He already knows anyway! Don’t be afraid for Him to see who you are when no one is looking, He already sees you.  He is God, and He has chosen to love you, and meet you, just as He finds you.

 PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father, thank you for loving me as I am. More so, thank you for loving me enough to not leave me in my brokenness. Thank you for the gift of Your Spirit to mold me to be more like Jesus daily. Amen.