Finding Your Worth in God’s Love - The Crosswalk Devotional - June 14
Finding Your Worth in God’s Love
By Vivian Bricker
Bible Reading:
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16).
I didn’t come to know Jesus until I was eighteen years old. Before this time, I knew of Jesus, but I didn’t know Him. He was an abstract idea that didn’t make much sense to me. While my mom would talk about Jesus, I never really understood what she said about Him. In other words, I didn’t understand that He is God or that we can receive salvation through believing in Him.
Therefore, I spent the first seventeen years of my life not knowing about Jesus, the Father, or the Holy Spirit. As one could imagine, this negatively impacted my life in many ways. I sometimes wonder what my life would have looked like if I had known Jesus earlier. I may not have tried to find my worth in the things of this world.
As a kid and a teen, I found much of my identity in sports and music. As a kid, I prided myself on being a soccer player and gymnast. Since this worth was found in things I could do, I knew I could lose my worth. If I weren’t good at these sports anymore, I would lose my worth, which kept me up at night. I feared that if I wasn’t the “best,” all of my teammates wouldn’t like me anymore, and that they would stop being my friends.
Now that I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I no longer find my worth in other things. Instead, I find my worth in Him. Since my worth is in Him, my worth doesn’t change or waver. It is firm and steadfast in the Lord. Anyone still living in a state of finding their worth in other things must return to the Lord.
Your worth is only found in Him. Finding your worth in other things will leave you feeling drained and empty. Similar to how I found my worth in certain sports, maybe you found your worth in being a good student or artist. Rather than setting your worth in things that can change, find your worth in Jesus.
Understanding His love helped me understand my worth in Him. Without knowing His love, I would never have known He desired a personal relationship with me. If we struggle with our worth, we must turn to Jesus’ love. His love will help us understand our worth and value in His eyes.
Unlike humans, Jesus’ love for us is not based on outside factors. Instead, it is solely based on Him. Jesus ‘ love for us is not based on what we do or don’t do. It is only based on His sure, steadfast, and perfect love. This is the type of love we can depend on and find comfort in.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
The Apostle John tells us, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). When John wrote this truth, he wrote it to us. It wasn’t only for the Christian readers who were alive after the death and resurrection of the Lord. Through John’s words, we can rely on God’s love because He is entirely trustworthy, and His love never changes.
The focus of this passage is found when John says, “God is love.” As believers, we need to take this to heart. God is the exact being of love. Without God, there would not be any love. He is the Author of love, and He is also the Author of our lives. Therefore, as believers, we need to find comfort in His love and find our worth in Him. Take hold of the love He has for you; in doing so, you will also take hold of your worth in Him.
Have you ever tried to find your worth in anything besides God in the past? What did this look like? What might change if you accepted God’s love for you? Would it help you receive your worth in Him? Challenge yourself to think of three things that show God’s love for you this past week. What are these three things?
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/ChristianChan
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