Known, Loved, Accepted

A couple years ago, my mother and sister and I went to a mother-daughter retreat at a summer camp up in Black Mountain. The weekend trip is one of my favorite memories, because I grew so much closer to my mom while also hearing such a good message that still impacts me today: the message that I’m known, loved, and accepted. As Valentine’s Day approaches, I find myself dwelling on thoughts of comparison and thinking about how the world defines our friendships and relationships. I think we can put on the perfect persona of always being a bubbly, carefree person, which is such a burden! So why do we do this?

It’s because we all crave the security that the world tells us can only come from having the perfect _______ (fill in the blank). We chase after attention and “success” from so many things, and it’s exhausting. I want to encourage you that what the world says will bring you security is fleeting, defeating…don’t run to those things to fill the hole in your heart that only God can. So, I want to give you three reasons, three reminders, of why God is better, bigger, and more beautiful than anything the world can offer.

1. KNOWN

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” – Isaiah 43:1

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” – John 10:14-15

Isn’t it refreshing to rest in the fact that we’re known by God, that the Good Shepherd knows us by name? He knows everything about, from the deep secrets we carry to the little, unseen acts of kindness we do. We haven’t done anything (in fact, we’ve done the opposite of trying to earn His affection), yet He chooses to pursue us time after time.

2. LOVED

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. ” – Ephesians 3:18-19

I love when friends greet me with a hug, rub my arm, or grin at me when we say hello – doesn’t that just make you happy, make you feel loved? God loves us in that same way, but times 100. He loves us so much, he sacrificed his son and cast all the sins we every committed onto Jesus. No matter how big our sin is, no matter how broken we are, God’s arms are always open. His grace covers it all. God’s unconditional love for us is the model of how we should love others well; His love for us is like a shield that once we have it, it will never be circumvented. Like a loving father, He disciplines us and gives us the tools that guide us in everyday life (the bible).

3. ACCEPTED

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to son ship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” – Ephesians 1:3-6

We can be secure in the fact that when we dedicate our life to the Lord, he adopts us as children, and we are accepted for simply trusting in him. We can be confident in that truth, which trumps all the insecurities we carry. For one, we don’t need anything extra, we don’t need to chase after the approval of peers, because we’re already accepted by Him. His acceptance is eternal and unchanging, while other’s acceptance is fleeting and unpredictable.

To summarize, speak truth to yourself: preach the gospel to yourself, remind yourself that we’re worth it because we are known, loved, and accepted by God. That is enough. Secondly, since God loves us so much, because we have tasted of His affection, His love should overflow from us. So go out and live unafraid, the Creator of the universe has our back.

Warmly,

Seabrook.