I used to believe that I couldn't be loved. I believed in the concept that Jesus loved me, but I could also lose that love. You see, I had too many scars and too many mistakes. As much as I tried to live this perfect life, I failed, I am only human.
This past February, I was able to tag along with Jay on an ELCA youth convention. One of my favorite speakers was Emmy Kegler. She spoke about Jesus coming back not perfect. He rose and still bore the scars of what had been done to Him. We try so hard to reach this perfect status, and fail over and over again. Jesus came back with scars. He wasn't ashamed of them, they were a part of who He was, a part of His story. Why should we be ashamed of our scars?
There is a song, Scars to Your Beautiful, that has a line that gets me every time.
"There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark
You should know you're beautiful just the way you are
And you don't have to change a thing, the world could change its heart."
The world can change its heart. We don't need to change who we are, we are beautiful just the way we are. Our scars, our stories, our mistakes, it makes you, you. Jesus meets us right where we are at. I used to believe that Jesus only loved us, if ..., I could never reach it and I felt like a failure over and over again. If Jesus couldn't love me, then who could. I've learned that Jesus loves us exactly where we are at. Jesus was with the forgotten. Jesus was challenging those who believed people had to be someone they weren't. Jesus was with the poor, the beggars, the oppressed and He met them and LOVED them right where they were.
You matter now. You don't have to reach a certain stage or do “this” and “that” before you matter or are loved. God loves you. We matter, we are enough, we are loved, we are children of God. God's love isn’t based on our perfection, His only Son came back with scars. Your scars, your story, your life, all matters. You are beautifully, uniquely, made just the way you are.
- Steph Kiel
10 for 10 Daily Inspiration | Day 10: Relationships
