It Is Not About Being Worthy

Text: Luke 15:19
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands. (NRSV)

When our hearts are broken over the sin we have committed, we almost always feel unworthy of God’s love in our lives.  We feel like we don’t deserve to be brought back into relationship.  We feel like we have lost the right to be treated with the same kind of love that we had known before our transgression.

The point is we have never had the “right” to be treated with the kind of love that God pours out on us.  We have never been “worthy” of God.  It is not about being worthy.  The only reason that we have ever know God’s love is because God has freely chosen to love us.  There is nothing we have done to deserve God’s love.  There is nothing that we have refrained from doing that has led to our being worthy of God’s great love.

The truth is that God loves us because that is the nature and will of God.  It is all about who God is and has nothing to do with who we are or what we have done.  So, when you have sinned against God and come to your senses, broken by your sin, don’t punish yourself by staying away from God because you believe God does not love you anymore.  God loves you.  You are a daughter or a son to God because God desires to be your Father.  All that remains is for you to return to God and allow him to love you.

Pray with me:

God of love draw me into your presence when I don’t believe that you still love me.  Help me to experience your great love that is poured out on all who seek your forgiveness after they have felt the shame of living outside of your will.  Mend my heart that it returns to the capacity to love you as you have always loved me.  AMEN.

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