“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” (Jeremiah 1:5)

God loves you.

We forget that. And, because of that, we struggle with the idea of God loving us. After all, there are times when we have a hard time loving ourselves.

• There have been too many failures
• We’ve hurt too many people
• We’ve cause way too much damage

The shame and guilt that results from our past sins and failures makes it even more difficult to approach God. “How could God possibly love this?”, we think to ourselves.

The amazing thing about God’s love is, not only does God love us right where we our – in our struggles, our shame, our pains, our failures – but he loved us even before we were created.

God fell in love with us when he came up with the idea of us. Long before creation, as God surveyed the universe, God thought of us. And God was in love. God absolutely loves you. That’s why God created the universe and put you in it. You’re supposed to be here. God has a plan and purpose for your being here.

That’s why God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that he can free us from sin and reunite us in his presence.

God loves you so much, there is no sin, no failure, no shame that can ever separate you from the love of God.

AND God loves you so much, God will never leave you in darkness and shame and guilt. God will free you and rescue you out of sin and darkness. God loves you so much, he cannot leave us as we are in sin and darkness.

Even before God formed you, even before you were ever you, before there was you, God knew you and loved you.

Let that sink in!

I have never loved the LORD with all my heart, soul, and mind.

I have had occasions and moments in which I loved God like that, but never an entire day when I’ve loved God like that.

I aspire to do so. That’s my goal every morning. But soon into most days I’ve already failed.

It’s not because there isn’t enough “want to” on my part. I have plenty of “want to”. The reason I fail is because I wrestle, struggle, and contemplate sinning all day, everyday.

What’s crazy is that even when I am obeying God, I don’t obey God without, at the same time, having a part of me wanting to sin.

If loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind means having 100% fully devoted to God 100% of the time, I fail 100% of the time, and will continue to do so until I am in Christ’s presence.

In the mean time, my struggle is to live more like Christ today than I did yesterday…being more like Christ in my thinking, desires, and in being today than I was yesterday.

Being changed and being transformed into the likeness of Christ is a process. Being changed and transformed is not an event.

I am being changed and being transformed every time I yield to the will of the Holy Spirit more than I yield to my flesh. Every time the Holy Spirit prompts, convicts, reminds, and encourages me to choose holiness, righteousness and I yield to him rather than to my flesh, I am being changed and transformed.

Yielding doesn’t mean I don’t have sinful desires. Even when I am in the process of obeying, my flesh rages and battles for control. But if my yielding to the Holy Spirit is greater than my yielding to the flesh, then I am being changed and transformed.

We are being transformed into the image of Christ each time the Holy Spirit has his way with us rather than our flesh.

This is my goal. This is my aspiration – more of the Holy Spirit and less of my flesh.