God Sees You For All That You Are

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” –Ephesians 1:4,5

Anytime you feel that God has abandoned you, is not listening to you, or perhaps feel that you are too bad, too unfaithful, too frail to be anything more than a disappointment to Him, consider the verses above.  The first chapter of Ephesians contains some of the richest proclamations of God’s love for His family.

When you feel that you are a screw-up, consider: God chose you before He created the world, chose you, specifically.  The God who created all things had you in mind before He began His work of creation.  Before He laid the foundations of the world God considered you, loved you, chose you for Himself, and set in motion the series of events that would lead to your existence on this planet right now.  He saw you for everything you are, failures included; and seeing your failures and your frailty, He did not turn away in disgust, no, He decided in advance, before the world was made, to adopt you into His family, through Jesus Christ.  Meaning He knew of your sins, and planned to sacrifice Himself for them before the world was created.  Before your sin-ridden life began, He planned to make a way for your salvation, and not just a way, but planned that you, specifically, would certainly be adopted into His family.  And in this He took great pleasure.

Your life, your past, present and future are all before Him.  He knew you before you were conceived, loved you, and chose you for Himself.  As the psalmist said, “You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16)  Your failures, even those you have not experienced yet, are by no means a surprise to Him, nor do they cause Him to love you less.  Never think that God is shaking His head in disgust; no, He looks on you with the love of a Father who is working towards the perfection of His child.  When we do wrong, He brings discipline, not to destroy us for our failures, but to teach us to do better, as any loving parent raises a child to do right and turn away from what is wrong, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” (Hebrews 12:6)  He care about you, and “God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phlippians 1:6) because it is not your efforts, not your work that makes you more like Christ, but rather “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13)

Never lose confidence in God.  No matter what happens, remember that you did not choose Him, but He chose you (John 15:16), loves you as His own, and His own He will never leave.