Unworthy or Unlovable?
May I ask you a deep, hard question?
When each of us take an honest, serious look at everything we’ve done in this life – the good and the bad – do we think we deserve God’s love?
You and I both know that our “bad” far outweighs our “good”, especially if we admit to the sinful thoughts that we keep buried inside. Even after we place our trust in Jesus for eternal life, we can still wrestle with feelings that based upon our past sins, we are not worthy of God’s love or that God shouldn’t love us.
Our response to our feelings is often shame-driven hiding. We avoid God and other believers because “if they only knew the real me…they wouldn’t want me around anymore, they’d abandon me”.
However, this kind of thinking is flawed because it assumes that all our relationships must be created and maintained on our own merits or worthiness. Rather than fooling ourselves and others (and trying to fool God) into thinking that we’re “good enough” to be around…we need to honestly recognize that we’re not worthy of love, nor do we really deserve it.
But that hard, honest truth doesn’t mean we’re unlovable.
David also recognized the discrepancy in his own life between what things he had done and God’s immense love. Look and see how he was still able to approach God:
Psalm 25:4-7
Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;
I wait for You all day long.
Remember, Lord, Your compassion and Your faithful love,
for they have existed from antiquity.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion;
in keeping with Your faithful love,
remember me because of Your goodness, Lord.
The Hebrew word translated as faithful love is hesed. Hesed means to have a zeal (in a good sense) in love and kindness toward any one; it especially refers to the grace, favor, and mercy God shows toward people or that one person may show to another.
God’s compassion and faithful love have existed longer than David’s sin. We are just a flutter and a flash in comparison to the infinity of God and His love. David understands that for him to have any relationship with God, it must be based upon God’s qualities – and not on David’s actions.
So, is David unworthy of God’s love? Absolutely. He doesn’t deserve it at all. And he knows it.
Then is David unlovable because he’s unworthy? No. He is loved by God, because of who God is.
It’s not our job to carry the responsibility of being the foundation of our relationship with God. He established that already through Christ’s death on the cross. Are we humble enough to accept this?
Are we humble enough to accept that we are unworthy, but that we are still loved?
Keep Pressing,
Ken