A few blog posts ago, I introduced you to the concept of redemptive thinking with an understanding that it begins from knowing and believing that God is good. But how can we believe that God is good when we do not see goodness in ourselves or in the people around us? I recently saw a post titled, “My first abusive relationship was with God” and it truly gave me pause. I had to really think about that post not because it is true but because it represents a sentiment felt by many today who have abandoned their faith or are at a point where they are questioning if Christianity is worth it.

Many of us have been socialized to view salvation in a one-sided light and it becomes easy to fall into a trap of feeling low self-worth when we should be feeling like princes and princesses of a Glorious King. We have heard and come to believe that God was angry with humankind and did not like us because of our sin and the only way He could deal with us was to send His Son to die for our sin. God is a perfect God, who demands perfection and sin separates us from the perfect God and so Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God paid the price of sin and now imputes on us His righteousness. So when God looks at us, He sees the sacrifice of Jesus for us and is able to relate with us because of the blood of Jesus.

Now while this narrative of the gospel has many elements of truth embedded in it, there are still pieces of the salvation message that are grossly underdeveloped. One of these is that God first loved you in spite of you. Even before the blood of Jesus washed you of your sins you were first and foremost loved. This is a very important principle in being able to live a victorious Christian life, free from the guilt and condemnation that Satan brings as we try to live lives that are pleasing to God. In Gen 1:31a the scripture says:

And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. BSB

It was very good. Humankind was very good. YOU were very good. Before the blood of Jesus, it started out with a God who made you in His own image and likeness and declared that you were very good; and He is trying to get you back to His vision of very good for you through the sanctifying work of the blood of Jesus. When He looks at you, He sees you- where you are today in His perfect plan and the you He created you to be. As we strive to live and walk with God on a daily basis, we sometimes falter; we are not our best selves somedays; and sometimes sin gets the better of us. This is why it is important to remember that while we were yet sinners, God’s love for us was so great He died for our sins. Even though Christ never sinned and so this is not an exact illustration, there is a powerful illustration of this point at the baptism of Jesus which I heard in a sermon last week.

Did you know that when the heavens opened and God said of Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus was yet to perform a miracle? He had not started doing all the amazing things we would come to know Jesus for and yet God spoke over Him that He was loved! What a powerful way to begin His ministry on earth, empowered by the love of the Father. Can I advance to you that before you become or became this amazing Christian whose walk with God is flawless, that Holy Ghost filled believer whose faith can move mountains, that powerful prayer warrior that is tearing down the kingdom of darkness, that person who loves the word of God, that man or woman who is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, etc., GOD FIRST LOVED YOU!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 NIV

Love came before the blood. Our ability to be victorious over sin and the condemnation of guilt and shame is in the fact that above all, we are loved and because of this great love Christ died and we are now in Him (and being in Christ give us a positionality over sin that is a whole new ball game and deserves a topic of its own). The love that God has for us gives us confidence in this world and confidence to stand before Christ at the day of judgement.

And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgement for in this world we are just like Him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:16-18 BSB

Once we come to an understanding of how much we are loved, this knowledge does not give us a license to keep living in sin or in our brokenness. Instead, this knowledge should drive us to see ourselves as God sees us…as very good and to motivate us to work with God to attain this perfect state! Our sufficiency, our successes, our goodness comes from Him through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This is certainly not the characteristic of an abuser. This is who our God who loves us and wants to restore us to the Manufacturer’s setting through the blood of Christ. Do you sometimes feel you are not enough? Even in my shortcomings, He is there to let me know His strength is perfect in my weakness and I am enough because I am loved!

Yours Truly.

P.S. I was totally blown away by this encouragement and so I am going to share it with you. As a mother, there are many times when I have felt clueless and unsure of what I am doing. I have felt discouraged and have beaten myself up more times than I would like to admit. Last week during the sermon, the pastor in expounding on the fact that ‘Christ is in us, therefore we are enough because He is enough’ said, “If God needed someone else to mother those children He would have found someone else. He chose you! So choose you! I encourage you to choose you this week.. because God saw that everything He had made including YOU was very good!