From Rev. Dcn. Michele Wiltfong
I had a friend call me last week. He was very quiet as he tried to formulate his question. Finally he said, “How do I know God is ok with me, you know?”
His particular “you know” involved his sexuality, but we all have a “you know” we question in our heads and hearts. I tried to help him realize that God knew him before he was a twinkle in the eye of his parents. God smiled when he took his first steps and spoke his first word.
So I looked, and it said LOVE is referred to in the Bible as many as 541 times. It is not the most used word, but that still shows the significance of the truth behind the phrase “God is love.” When we awake in the morning and self-doubt from societal expectations hits, try to remember God loves us. When the boss rakes us over the coals for not doing things exactly right, God still loves us. When we feel anger toward someone or something and we don’t know why, we are still loved beyond measure.
It’s not easy being a true follower of Christ anymore. People in our lives have expectations of us and seem offended when we fall short. They put us in a box of how they think we should behave. They put God in a box based on how they think “He” would feel about a certain situation. But if we let God and each other be who they/we are called to be, we would realize that God loves every hair on our head and every question in our hearts.
So what I’m asking you is the same thing I asked the friend who called me. “How could God know who we are before we came in to being and not love us for exactly who we are?” Base your image and love of self on God and not who someone else wants you to be. Life would be so much simpler if we cut out the middleman and went to the Source.
My favorite verse in the entirety of the Bible is Proverbs 17:17. “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.” So my phone call with my friend ended well and he was ok with who he is at that moment, but the doubt has a way of returning. Let us pray that each and every one of us may be able to look into the eyes of our brother and see the very same person God sees. Let us be ok with who our neighbor is on the outside and the inside. Let us love our neighbor, and ourselves, as deeply and wholly as God loves us!
Peace and love, Michele