You deserve to be loved with maxed out big outrageous unflinching love. God loves you like that. Jesus loves you like that. The Spirit teaches you to love like that.
Unconditional love is fearless.
We tend to look for what’s wrong with us and spend our lives trying to fix what we think is broken. There’s this feeling that we should and could be better. But let’s suspend that reality for a moment and imagine that you have been granted the gift of shameless faith. Shameless. No guilt. No shame. Forgiveness. Acceptance. Perfection in Christ.
It’s a thing. Perfection in Christ is a thing (Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 10:14; Matthew 5:48). But you’ll feel more comfortable swapping the word “perfect” with “mature” or “complete”. Me too.
So, assume shameless faith. You are squeaky clean, forgiven, and you are not living in the shadow of shame cast on you by the voices, the memories, the culture, the anything.
Now gaze into the new horizon with fearless faith. You’ve been given power and love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7), and you can go steady on with a life that is full of grace and truth. Full of Jesus, that is.
Fearless doesn’t mean trouble free. Happy-go-lucky-everything’s-fine-when-it-really-isn’t-kind of thinking isn’t faith. Faith is meek and mighty, bold and humble, and brave enough to doubt sometimes…and admit it.
You’ll have to do the work of healing, and those struggles will increase your faith in God, in yourself, and in the trustworthy people in your life. That’s why faith and courage make beautiful companions.
Real courage is letting God love you just as you are. That takes a lot of faith. People often won’t. God always will. Then you’ll see what a blessing you are and how much theworld needs this beautiful light and strength of God that you carry.
Steady on!
Pastor Kim