You are Loved

        It is a total misunderstanding of the Gospel that has us live in a perpetual state of repentance. The message of the Gospel is that we are loved. It is disturbing how we get this wrong in our lives. Our life in Christ might start out in the darkness. Yes, our journey to the light might have started in utter darkness, a bankruptcy of the heart and soul. There is the moment of realization of regret, this moment of repentance is necessary in order to say goodbye to the darkness. In order to say goodbye to a life that is based on self-will we need to grow sick and tired. We have to understand the degrading and destructive nature of the darkness. We can only do this through understanding what it has done to us, what we have become. We need to understand that who we have become is not who we were intended to be. We were not who we were created to be. We need this need moment so that we do not look back with longing. That moment, often longer, is not where we are to stay. 

        I often think that the hardest aspect of faith is to trust that we are lovable. To believe that what has created us loves us. I also believe that it is not our “wickedness” that God grieves the most. It is our lostness, our belief that God does not love us, that is the source of his mourning. The Gospel is that God’s love was most clearly displayed on a cross millennia ago. That we construe this act of love as being an act of justification for punishing us shows the level of our disbelief that who has spun us into being loves us. 

        Our path of growth is towards being a light unto the world. (Matt 5.14) It is not becoming something or someone who we are not. This is who we were intended to be. Those beliefs and behaviours that have become habits are not, I repeat not, who we are. Our path of growth is gently embracing who we are intended to be. Paul tells us that who we meant to be is obvious. (Galatians 5.22 & 23) We cannot be these if we live a continual apology. We are called to treat those around us, and ourselves, with love, compassion, and gentleness. The ground of this way of being is understanding we are loved beyond measure. It is this experience that draws towards God. It is love that draws us towards being a "new creation." It is coming into joy that moves our feet on the path. It is love that keeps us growing. It is the light of love that attracts others.

        This love also is our compass and guide. When we think we have failed to be who we are, it is love, not fear, that will restore our direction.

You are loved.

Anyway, that is my opinion.