Are you worthy of love?
Without hesitating, most of us would say, “Yes, of course!” And that is true. You are worthy of love. Yet how often do we subconsciously add the ever dangerous word if to the end of that sentence? I am worthy of love if…
Our society often regards love as conditional upon meeting certain expectations. We are expected to make ourselves look a certain way so as to be attractive to the rest of society. Love is often packaged as something that will fill a need, and thus must be found in other people. We envision that we can make ourselves worthy of love by measuring up to the expectations of others; sometimes parents, sometimes teachers, sometimes our own unspoken internal expectations.
In God, we are able to remove the if.
You are worthy of love simply because Love made it so.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
-1 John 4:7-8
John teaches us that love is from God. God is the source of all love. And not only that, but God is love.
Pay close attention to that statement because it is exceptionally profound. It’s not just that God is really loving toward us (although that’s true). It’s not even that God made us to be loving toward one another (although that is also true). The very essence and substance of God is love.
When you live in God you live in love. When your life is lived as an outpouring of your relationship with God, then love will naturally flow.
Thomas Merton explains it this way:
“…love is not just something that happens to you: it is a certain special way of being alive.”
-Thomas Merton, Love and Living
You are made by love, for love.
Do not try to be a more loving person; it is not by your own willpower that you can love. Instead, focus your time and energy on being connected with the source of love, God, and you will find love naturally flow out of that relationship.
This Sunday, we finish our I AM series with our final I AM statement.
See you on Sunday!
-Pastor David
