God's Love: Your Baseline Identity
God’s Love…Your Baseline Identity
God’s Love: Your Baseline Identity
I used to lead a group in an addiction treatment center for a number of years. I was the spirituality consultant. Because it was a secular treatent center, I had to keep my teaching generic, not teaching from the Bible or talking in specifically Christian terms. I taught principles about God that were based in the Bible without ever mentioning the Bible.
God Loved You Before You Were Born
One principle I taught was that God loved us before we were born. This is a significant point because so many people live their lives trying to prove their worth to God and others, often feeling like they fall short. But if God loved you before you were born that means that there’s nothing you can do to earn his love and there’s nothing you can do to lose it.
I can share here what I couldn’t share in the treatment center. In the Bible, there is a letter written by the apostle Paul, the leader of the early church. He wrote to a church in Turkey about God’s love. He said:
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:4,5
Parents Love Their Child Before They Are Born
To help people understand this idea, I would ask how many clients were parents. Almost all of them were. I’d ask, “When did you first love your child? Was it when they grew up and started to achieve great things? No, you loved them when you first learned that you were pregnant.”
That is, their child didn’t have to do anything to warrant their love. The lightbulbs often went off at this point and I hope one is going off for you now as well.
God’s Love is Your Baseline Identity
You see, this idea of God’s love should be the baseline for your identity. You came into the world loved by God and you wake up every morning loved by God. You are loved by God when you succeed and you are loved by God when you fail. That’s a pretty good way to start and end your day.
It shouldn’t matter what people think of you or say about you… at least as for defining your worth. Negative thoughts and words hurt, yes, but you should never let them define you. God has already done that. He has put the pricetag on you at birth, which is “invaluable.”
God’s Love Is Your Emotional Shield
So as you go about your day, let this idea sink deeply into your spirit. Let it be the emotional shield that protects you from all insults and disappointments. As Henri Nouwen once said:
You were the beloved before your father, mother, brother, sister, or church loved you or hurt you. You are the beloved because you belong to God from all eternity. God loved you before you were born, and God will love you after you die. In Scripture, God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” This is a very fundamental truth of your identity. This is who you are whether you feel it or not.
This is who you are whether you feel it or not. That’s so important. Don’t let your emotions define your worth or the hurtful words of others. Let God’s love, his first love… the love that was there before you were even conceived… define your value.
If you know someone who might appreciate hearing about God’s love, I hope you will share this with them.
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